Southeastern Oklahoma State wins GAC men’s tennis tournament

BENTONVILLE — Southeastern Oklahoma State cruised in its 2018 Great American Conference Men’s Tennis Championships semifinal contest on Friday and defeated Harding, 5-3, in the final on Saturday.

The men’s and women’s tournaments began on Thursday at Memorial Park in Bentonville.

The Savage Storm (11-7, 3-0) swept Ouachita (2-15, 0-3) in the semifinals.

The Bisons (14-7, 2-1) won their first GAC Championship match in seven tries as they eliminated Oklahoma Baptist (7-8, 1-2), the reigning tournament champion, 5-3, in the other semifinal on Friday Women

Southeastern (11-10, 5-1) and Oklahoma Baptist (13-4, 6-0) advanced to Saturday’s women’s final with semifinal victories on Friday. It is the fifth time in the seven years of the GAC that the top two seeds made the final.

The Savage Storm successfully began their bid for a third consecutive conference title by defeating Arkansas Tech (12-6, 4-2), 5-1 After trailing in all three doubles matches, Southeastern scored wins at the No. 3 and No.1 spots to grab a 2-1 lead.

Sophomore Kami Ward, of Lake Hamilton, and partner Annabel Rowlands tallied the lone win for the Golden Suns.

Oklahoma Baptist advanced to the final with a 5-3 win Friday against Harding.

During the regular season, Oklahoma Baptist recorded a 7-2 victory against Southeastern