The top-ranked BYU–Hawaii women's tennis team played a closely contested 5-3 match to defending champions No. 3 Armstrong State in the NCAA Division II Women's Tennis Championships on Saturday, May 21, 2016, at the Regency Athletic Complex in Denver, Colorado.
Armstrong State (32-1) has won the Championship seven times in the last nine years. The Seasiders (25-1) are 7-time national champions. It was the third meeting in the last five title matches between the two schools.
Nicole Fossa Huergo and Lena Pacholski took a 7-3 lead over Kanela Adamson and Jade Griffin on court three. Trailing 40-0 in the final game, the Seasiders double-faulted to give Armstrong State the first doubles match of the day.
Aggression at the net led to early errors for No. 1 doubles Nannan (Dallas) Zhang and Xin (Summer) Wen and they fell behind 3-0 to No. 3 Lena Lutzeier and Diana Stomlega. They found their groove and controlled the aggression to secure the next five game points, before grabbing the 8-5 triumph.
No. 10 partners Min (Karen) Liu and Shu-Ying (Suzie) Hsieh battled Alejandra Cisneros and Carolina Prats-Millan in long-winded points before tying 2-2 early on. BYU–Hawaii advanced with five uninterrupted games to end victorious in their 8-3 match and take the overall 2-1 lead after doubles play.
Pacholski recorded the first singles win of the day when she defeated Griffin in a swift 6-1, 6-2 match. No. 44 Prats-Millan and No. 46 Hsieh played a seesaw match until Prats-Millan ended it 6-4, 6-3 to put Armstrong State ahead 3-2 overall. No. 20 Wen battled back and forth, but dropped four consecutive games to No. 9 Cisneros, allowing the Pirates to claim the 6-3, 6-4 victory and extend their lead.
No. 7 Liu and No. 6 Fossa Huergo traded points to give the Seasiders a 6-4 first set victory. Liu was trailing 5-2 in the second, but she ignited for five straight games to win 7-5.
Jeong-Min Jeon capitalized on the cramping that Stomlega was experiencing to take the first set 6-1. Stomlega answered back in the second set and shut out Jeon 6-0. Armstrong State took a 3-0 edge in the third set until Jeon closed the gap to 4-3. She was unable to hold on to it as Stomlega ended the tiebreaker 6-3 to keep the Pirates' national title.
No. 1 Zhang took an early 3-1 lead in the first set, but struggled to serve in the next game, giving away the point and allowing No. 4 Lutzeier the momentum to gain a 4-3 advantage. Zhang tied it when a backhand by Lutzeier went into the net to put BYU–Hawaii ahead 5-4 before Zhang ended it 6-4. Lutzeier retaliated with a 6-2 defeat in set two to send them into a third. With nearly every game going to deuce, Lutzeier grabbed the 4-3 edge, but they did not finish as the victory was secured on court five.
