The Western Athletic Conference released the 2022 WAC Women's Tennis tournament bracket and Chicago State earned the No. 7 seed by virtue of a 4-3 win over Dixie State coupled with a 4-3 Lamar loss to UTRGV Saturday. The Cougars victory over Dixie State happened Friday afternoon and the team had to wait until the last day of the regular season to learn their postseason fate which ranged from elimination to the No. 6 seed. Chicago State will face No. 2 New Mexico State in Match Three on Friday, April 22, at 12 p.m. The winner will advance to face the winner of the No. 3/6 matchup on Saturday, April 23. The eight-team, seven-match, three-day event will be held at the Beaumont Municipal Tennis Center in Beaumont, Texas. The winner of the tournament earns the league's automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament.
The opening-round matches consist of No. 1 Grand Canyon against No. 8 Abilene Christian, No. 4 UTRGV versus No. 5 Seattle U, No. 2 New Mexico State competing against No. 7 Chicago State and No. 3 Stephen F. Austin against No. 6 Sam Houston. All four opening-round matches are set for Friday, April 22. The complete schedule is listed below.
The Cougars and Aggies met earlier this season with New Mexico State earning a 4-3 win. The Cougars captured the doubles point but the Aggies responded with three consecutive singles wins.
Katarina Dukic cut New Mexico State's lead to 3-2 and
Kristina Pukhaeva earned a three-set win tie the match, leaving the deciding match to
Lizi Morgoshia who dropped a 6-3, 6-4 decision.
Katarina Dukic leads the Cougars with 12 match victories this season and shares most WAC singles wins (3) with
Sofiya Sedovich.
Kristina Pukhaeva has 10 wins with seven of those at No. 2 singles. The duo of
Diana Borodina and
Sofiya Sedovich lead the team in WAC doubles victories with three and are 3-1 at No. 3 while
Katarina Drazic and
Lizi Morgoshia have a conference win at No. 1 doubles and
Katarina Dukic and
Kristina Pukhaeva earned a conference win at No. 2 and have three victories together overall.
2022 WAC Men's Tennis Tournament Schedule
Friday, April 22
(Beaumont Municipal Tennis Center)
Match One: No. 1 Grand Canyon vs. No. 8 Abilene Christian, 12 p.m.
Match Two: No. 4 UTRGV vs. No. 5 Seattle U, 3 p.m.
Match Three: No. 2 NM State vs. No. 7 Chicago State, 12 p.m.
Match Four: No. 3 Stephen F. Austin vs. No. 6 Sam Houston, 3 p.m.
Saturday, April 23
(Beaumont Municipal Tennis Center)
Match Five: Match 1 Winner vs. Match 2 Winner, 1 p.m.
Match Six: Match 3 Winner vs. Match 4 Winner, 1 p.m.
Sunday, April 24
(Beaumont Municipal Tennis Center)
Championship Match: Match Five Winner vs. Match Six Winner, 1 p.m.
All Times Central Standard Time
About Chicago State
Chicago State University Athletics is comprised of 15 intercollegiate teams involving over 150 student-athletes that compete in basketball, cross country, golf, soccer, tennis, indoor and outdoor track and volleyball. CSU held memberships in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) and NCAA Division II before transitioning to NCAA Division I in 1994. Melvin Bland was the first CSU student-athlete to gain NAIA All-American status in 1974 as a wrestler. Fred Evans became the first black swimmer ever to win a national championship in 1975. In 1991, the Chicago State women's tennis team became the first all-black college team to amass an unbeaten season at the NCAA level. CSU's women's basketball team earned a spot in the 2011 Women's Basketball Invitational and CSU's men's basketball team won the 2013 Great West Conference Tournament title, also making an appearance in the CollegeInside.com Postseason Tournament (CIT). The Men's Outdoor Track & Field 4x100-Meter Relay team were 2019 Honorable Mention All-Americans and WAC Champions. Their feat marked the first time the Chicago State's men's track & field program was represented at the national meet. Chicago State volleyball recorded a historic season in 2021, with Yanlis Feliz becoming CSU's first volleyball All-American and head coach
Tony Trifonov earning selection as WAC Coach of the Year. During that same season, three different CSU teams earned victories over Big Ten opponents with men's soccer beating Northwestern, women's basketball upending Wisconsin and volleyball, which established a school record 17 wins and hosted a post-season volleyball tournament for the first time in program history, swept Indiana in Bloomington.
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