Reporting was contributed by Shane Schock.
Harding’s women’s tennis team won the Great American Conference title Saturday against East Central University 6-3.
Both men’s and women’s tennis came away with victories in Ada, Okla. on Saturday, April 12 against the Central tigers. While the women took first in conference, the men are tied for second in the GAC.
The conference championship win by the women’s team gives them their first conference title since winning the Arkansas Intercollegiate Conference in 1994.
The women’s team finished with a record of 15-5 and ended the season on a 6-0 winning streak. Freshman Piper Huey gave the Bisons an early 3-1 series lead with a 6-0 victory and won her ninth straight singles match.
The women’s team is the No. 1 seed for the upcoming GAC tournament on April 18 and 19.
According to Huey, the team was thrilled to win conference. She said it is crazy to think she was not alive the last time Harding’s team won.
“It is great that we won,” Huey said. “Harding hasn’t won conference for 20 years, so it was really exciting.”
Huey said Harding has lost matches to ECU over the last few years, so they expected it to be tough competition. She said she predicts the University of Arkansas, Fort Smith to be their toughest competition at the tournament because of Fort Smith’s No. 2 seed rank.
The men’s conference victory over East Central gave them their first GAC victory in nine conference matches over the last three seasons.
“The win on Saturday was huge for our team,” junior team captain Caleb McReynolds said. “Not only for the draw in the tournament, but also for our confidence as a team. That was our last big match before the tournament, so going in with confidence this weekend is a big plus.”
The victory by Harding’s men’s team placed them in a three-way tie for second place in conference standings. Harding, Ouachita Baptist University and Henderson State University stand in second place at 1-2 behind Southeastern Oklahoma State University with the record 3-0.
According to McReynolds, the three-way tie means the team will play ECU again on Friday. He said he likes how the draw turned out, and he feels like they have a great shot at winning it all this weekend.
“On Friday, all our focus will be on ECU,” McReynolds said. “If we win both matches this weekend, we have a chance of going to nationals. That is always in the back of our minds. I don’t want us to get ahead of ourselves though. The most important thing right now is beating ECU. After that, we can look forward to the next match.”
McReynolds said he predicts Southeastern Oklahoma State to be the men’s toughest competition at the tournament. He said that even though Southeastern won the conference this year, he feels like the team has a good chance of beating the Savage Storm if they play again this weekend.
The GAC tournament will be held today and tomorrow at the Memorial Tennis Complex in Bentonville, Ark. The tournament championship match is tomorrow at 2 p.m.
