KANSAS CITY, Mo.- In a surprising momentum shift for the season, William Woods women's tennis upset both the #2 Rams of Texas Wesleyan and the #1 seeded Missouri Baptist Spartans to win their tenth consecutive conference championship title.
Matching up with the #6 seeded eagles of John Brown University, Woods took a commanding lead and never took their foot off the gas. #2 doubles pairing of Kristina Dimitrijevic and Zara Littlejohn continued their excellent play on the season, matched with the #3 pairing of Bieke Roovers and Chloe Hecker dominating performance to clinch the doubles point for the Owls. In singles play, Samya Sikand, Hecker, and Manon Grasset won their matches in consecutive sets to push the Owls to a semifinal matchup against Texas Wesleyan.
The Rams, coming into the matchup with a higher seed and the same national designation as The Woods (RV), fell short in the meeting by a narrow 4-3 scoreline in favor of Woods. Again, it was Littlejohn/Dimitrijevic and Hecker/Roovers that cemented the doubles point win for the Owls with 6-3 and 6-2 scorelines respectively. The Rams responded with three consecutive wins in the three top singles matches to take a 3-1 match lead. Grasset was able to take a win in #4 by retirement of her opponent to push the match line to 3-2. Playing in #6 singles, Charlotte Ready evened the match win for Wiliam Woods on a consecutive set heater ending in 6-1 and 6-3 scorelines. Littlejohn bested her opponent, a former Owl in Kaja Brunzlow, in consecutive sets to earn The Owls a spot in the title match against the Spartans.
In the championship match, Woods carried a strong doubles showing to their tenth consecutive conference title. Ready and Sikand, in #1 doubles, blanked their opponent 6-0 to put the Owls within one win of the doubles point. Dimitrijevic and Littlejohn took a 7-5 win in #2 doubles to secure the doubles point for The Woods.
Carrying the momentum, Ready and Sikand won their singles matchups almost simultaneously in consecutive sets. With a 3-0 match lead, The Owls would come up short in #3 and #4 singles to make a 3-2 scoreline with all eyes on the top marks. Dimitrijevic, playing Bissola Lassissi, dropped the first set of the match before battling back to win in a third-set tie-break to clinch the win for William Woods.
The Owls look to the NAIA Women's Tennis National Selection Show on Tuesday afternoon to see who they will play in the NAIA National Tournament in Mobile, Alabama.
