ARLINGTON, Texas (May 1, 2025) — No. 23 Dallas Baptist University stunned No. 20 Lubbock Christian in a Lone Star Conference Championships quarterfinal matchup Thursday at Arlington Tennis Center, handing the third-seeded Lady Chaps a 4-0 defeat to eliminate them from the tournament and potentially put their NCAA postseason hopes on hold.
The sixth-seeded Patriots (20-4) claimed the early edge in doubles, securing the point with swift victories at the top two lines. Jenna Payne and Emily Buchanan rolled to a 6-0 win over
AnaMaria Zoric and
Anastasiia Opolska at No. 2 doubles for the first result of the day. Moments later, DBU clinched the point as Madalyn Smelley and Isabella Arana Rios defeated LCU's top duo of
Axelle Jacquemin and
Andrea De Bernardo (ranked No. 21 in the nation), 6-3. Court three went unfinished with
Oshini Herath and
Mariia Koroleva trailing 5-4.
In singles, Dallas Baptist's momentum carried into the top half of the lineup, where they secured three straight-set wins to close out the dual. Katherine Robinson struck first, defeating Opolska (ranked No. 30 nationally) 6-4, 6-3 at line one to extend DBU's lead to 2-0. Arana Rios followed at No. 4 singles with a 6-1, 6-4 win over
Maya Adler, placing the Patriots one point away from victory. The clinching point came at line five, where Buchanan recovered from a first-set loss to outlast Zoric 1-6, 6-2, 6-1.
Three matches were left unfinished in competitive positions. At No. 2 singles, De Bernardo rebounded from a second-set slip and was tied 3-3 in the third against Smelley. On court three, Koroleva had evened the match with a 6-0 second set after dropping the first to Leonie Schondelmaier. Herath trailed Andrea Delgado 7-5, 3-2 on court six when the match was called.
Lubbock Christian (17-7) now awaits word on a potential at-large bid to the NCAA South Central Regional, with the selection announcement scheduled for 7:30 p.m. on Monday (May 5). LCU suffered their first shutout loss of the season. They fell to 1-3 all-time at the LSC Championships and 1-3 all-time against DBU, who went 2-0 against LCU this season (all within the past week).
