LUBBOCK, Texas (April 28, 2025)— No. 20 Lubbock Christian University closed the regular season with a road split, falling 5-2 at No. 34 Dallas Baptist Saturday in Dallas before rebounding for a 4-3 victory over No. 25 UT Tyler on Sunday, securing the No. 3-seed for the upcoming Lone Star Conference Championships.
The Lady Chaps (17-6, 7-3 LSC) opened the weekend strong in doubles against DBU (18-4, 5-4), sweeping all three courts to claim the early lead.
AnaMaria Zoric and
Anastasiia Opolska set the tone with a 6-4 win at No. 2, quickly followed by a 6-4 triumph at No. 1 by
Axelle Jacquemin and
Andrea De Bernardo.
Mariia Koroleva and
Oshini Herath closed out the doubles sweep with a tight 7-6 (7-4) win at No. 3.
However, singles play swung heavily in favor of the Patriots. DBU captured victories at Nos. 4 and 2 singles first to take a 2-1 lead, followed by a marathon at No. 1 where Opolska fell 6-4, 2-6, 7-5. Emily Buchanan's win over Zoric at No. 5 singles clinched the match for DBU before
Mariia Koroleva provided LCU's lone singles point, rallying for a 5-7, 6-4, 6-2 win at No. 3. DBU added the final result with a straight-sets win at No. 6.
Facing a quick turnaround against UT Tyler (16-9, 7-3) the next morning, LCU dropped the doubles point after the Patriots swept all three matches, including a nationally-ranked clash at No. 1 where No.17 Yona Bancarel and Natalia Gorzny defeated No.20
Axelle Jacquemin and
Andrea De Bernardo 7-6 (7-5). Undeterred, the Lady Chaps dominated singles, winning four of six matches to secure the 4-3 team win. No.37 Opolska got LCU on the board with a 7-5, 6-3 win over No. 40 Bancarel at the top flight. After UTT wins at Nos. 3 and 2 singles, the Lady Chaps rallied behind the lower lineup. Herath rallied from a set down to win 1-6, 6-4, 6-3 at No. 6, followed by a gritty three-set win by Zoric at No. 5 (6-3, 5-7, 6-4) to even the match at 3-3.
Maya Adler completed the comeback, overcoming a tough first set to defeat Paula Castellanos 1-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4 at No. 4 and clinch the dual for LCU.
Opolska (19-8 in singles) led the Lady Chaps with a perfect 2-0 weekend at the No. 1 singles spot, while Koroleva, who reached the 20-win mark in singles (20-8) and Zoric (19-4) both contributed key wins. Herath (5-1 in LSC duals) and Adler played pivotal roles Sunday, delivering clutch third-set victories that pushed LCU over the top.
With the win over UT Tyler, LCU tied UTT for third in the LSC standings but earned the head-to-head tiebreaker, securing the No. 3-seed for the LSC Championships. The Lady Chaps will face sixth-seeded Dallas Baptist in the quarterfinals Thursday at Noon in Arlington, Texas.
