Box Score Box Score SURPRISE, Ariz. – Barry University women's tennis has been delayed by weather several times throughout the season.
Friday was no different as the No. 2 Buccaneers NCAA Division II semifinals match with No. 3 BYU-Hawaii was halted twice due to a rain at Surprise Tennis & Racquet Complex. But that didn't stop the Bucs from reaching their ultimate goal – a trip to the national championship match.
Barry beat the Seasiders, 5-0, in a suspended match Saturday morning to earn a trip back to the national finals. The Bucs (24-1) will meet No. 1 Armstrong Atlantic (32-0) in a rematch of last year's national championship.
Play was halted Friday afternoon after one doubles match was completed. Barry's
Elisabeth Abanda and
Kimmy Twelker beat Kanela Adamson and Jade Griffin, 8-2, at the No. 3 position before rain forced a suspension.
After a roughly four-hour delay, the two teams returned to the courts at 10 p.m. EST to resume under the lights. Third-ranked
Sonja Larsen and
Ana Pain returned from a 5-4 lead before the suspension, and eventually pulled out their No. 1 doubles match with second-ranked Min Liu and Nannan Zhang to win 8-6 at the top spot.
Fourth-ranked
Emma Onila and Liinda Fritschken trailed 22
nd-ranked Jin Jin Han and Marietta Tuionetoa, 5-2, when play was halted. But the Buccaneers pair made a spirited comeback, forcing a tiebreaker before pulling out a 9-8 (7-4) win over the Seasiders duo to give Barry a 3-0 lead entering singles.
Rain stopped play a second time just as singles was beginning, and the NCAA committee suspended the match until Saturday morning.
Twelker continued her brilliant singles play in Arizona, beating Adamson, 6-0, 6-0, at the No. 6 position to move Barry a point within clinching. Forty-fifth-ranked Pain wrapped it up minutes later with a 6-0, 6-1 win over Jeong-Min Jeon at No. 5. It was Twelker's third singles victory this week at the NCAA Championships.
Larsen, ranked fourth in the nation, and Fritschken, who owns the No. 29 national singles ranking, both won their opening sets before the Bucs secured the clinching fifth team point.
Barry will be making its fourth trip to the NCAA Championship match, including three against Armstrong. Saturday's match can be watched by clicking
HERE.
LIVE STATS are also available.