FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - The University of West Alabama Women's Tennis Team defeated the Lee Flames, 4-3, in the Opening Round of the NCAA Tournament before losing, 4-0, to host Nova Southeastern in the following round.
No. 5 West Alabama (17-7) battled a handful of weather delays along with a tough No. 16 Lee (13-4) team in route to an impressive 4-3 win, before turning around and playing No. 3 Nova Southeastern (22-3) two hours later where they fell, 4-0.
MATCH ONE: Tigers 4, Flames 3
West Alabama began their matchup with Lee by taking the doubles point. The tandems of Alexa Milliam/Emiri Takanishi and Greta Zawels/Lolita Hukasian came up big for UWA, winning 6-2 and 6-4 in their respective matches to put the Tigers up, 1-0 as the match progressed to singles play.
In singles, Milliam moved to 19-0 on the season as the freshman defeated Maria Penalver, (6-3, 2-6, 6-4) in Line Two. While Milliam spearheaded the top lines for the Tigers, West Alabama's depth is what ultimately propelled them over the Flames. On Line Six, Zawels handled Lee's Nicolette Fuhr, (6-4, 6-3). With the score sitting at 3-3, UWA's season was in the hands of Hukasian on Line Five. The junior battled with Vitoria Maximiliano as the match came down to the wire. The two athletes split the first two sets, setting up a third set where Hukasian took a commanding 5-1 lead. Maximiliano fought her way back to knot the set at 5-5 and eventually took a 6-5 lead until Hukasian halted her comeback efforts and advanced UWA to the next round, winning the set 7-6 with a 7-5 victory in the set tiebreaker.
MATCH TWO: Sharks 4, Tigers 0
After an emotional, nail biting win against the Flames, the Tigers had to quickly get ready for a matchup against the Sharks, two hours later.
Nova Southeastern took the doubles point to register the first point of the match. In singles, Milliam was on the verge of winning the second set of her match against Ita Habekovic until the match was decided. NSU secured a 4-0 victory, with wins coming in Lines Three, Five, and Six.
West Alabama's season comes to a close as the Tigers enter their offseason after a 17-7 2025 campaign.
