RSC Women's Tennis Championship Day 1 Recap: IU East, Asbury to Meet in Finals
CINCINNATI, Ohio -- Asbury University and Indiana University East will meet in the River States Conference Women's Tennis Championship final match on Saturday, April 27.
The women's championship match will start at 9 a.m. putting the No. 1 seed Eagles versus the No. 3 seed Red Wolves at the Lindner Family Tennis Center, home of the Western & Southern Open professional tennis tournament.
Asbury defeated IU Kokomo 5-0 in the semifinal round, and IU Southeast men eliminated Indiana University East in the semifinal round. Asbury is the defending women's RSC Tennis Tournament champion.
The Asbury women are receving votes in the latest Top 25 national poll and are 11-4 after their semifinal win. The IU East women are 15-10.
The two teams met just a week ago in Cincinnati, with Asbury coming out on top by a score of 6-3.
Match Recaps
Quarterfinals
IU East 5, Brescia 0 - IUE was ahead 2-0 by default heading into the match. After producing two wins at the top two doubles spots, all that was needed to get the win was one singles match. Bri Ayres won at No. 5 singles 6-0, 6-0 to put the Red Wolves into the semis.
IU Kokomo 5, Midway 4 - In what was a thrilling first round match, the Cougars rallied from behind after losing two out of three doubles matches. Katie McCoy fought back from a set down at No. 6 singles to win 6-1 in the final set to push IUK into the next round.
Semifinals
Asbury 5, IU Kokomo 0 - The Eagles took care of business quickly as they dropped just two games in their win. Alejandra Diaz clinched the match at No. 1 singles with a 6-0, 6-0 win.
IU East 5, IU Southeast 4 - In the best match of the afternoon, doubles play provided a lot of spark and energy from both squads. IU East won at No. 1 doubles in a close 8-6 match, but the Grenadiers would take No. 2 and 3 doubles in 9-8 tiebreaker thrillers.
With a 2-1 lead, IUS would win at No. 2 and 3 singles to lead 4-2 late, needing just one match to advance. However, the Red Wolves stormed back and won the final three matches as Bri Ayres was the hero of the match for IU East at No. 5 singles.
She lost the first set 4-6, and trailed 4-1 in the second set, but fought back furiously to win the second set 6-4 and the final set 6-2 to put the Red Wolves into the championship match.