Box Score
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - Davenport won four of the six singles matches to pull out a dramatic 5-4 win in the 2012 WHAC Championship match over Northwestern Ohio. The title is the first in the three year history of the women's tennis program as Diana Favela was named the Most Valuable Player and Patrick Grashorn the Coach of the Year.
Davenport picked up their first conference championship in tennis today with a dramatic come from behind 5-4 win over Northwestern Ohio. The win sends DU into next week's NAIA Regional tournament in Lima, Ohio as the top seed.
The Lady Panthers, who have now won nine matches in a row, fell behind 2-1 after doubles play with their lone win coming at No. 1 behind the team of Diana Favela and Denisse Favela. The duo improved to 27-2 on the year in doubles play with an 8-2 win.
The twin sisters then started out singles play with two quick wins at No. 1 and No. 2 with Diana winning 6-0, 6-4 and Denisse winning 6-0, 6-1 to help DU take a 3-2 lead. The next Panther victory came from Angelica Woods who won 6-0, 6-3 at No. 5.
The Racers, who won the 2011 championship with a 5-4 win over DU, kept things close winning the next two matches at No. 4 and No. 6 to have it all come down No. 3 singles which was in a third set tie-breaker between Stephanie Fortney of DU and Shaye Warman of UNOH.
Warman took the first set 6-4 while Fortney evened the match with a 6-2 win in the second. With the third all tied at 6, the two players played a dramatic tiebreaker which was eventually won 10-8 by Fortney to pull out the 5-4 win for Davenport.
At the conclusion of the tournament, DU was honored well on the All-WHAC squads with Diana Favela being named the Most Valuable Player for the second straight year. She was joined by her sister Denisse on the 1st Team for singles as well as 1st Team for doubles. Head coach Patrick Grashorn was named the WHAC Coach of the Year and Kristi Kuzdal earned the Champions of Character nod.
Post-Match Notes
The championship is the first in the three year history for Davenport of sponsoring women's tennis…Diana Favela was named the MVP of the league for the second straight season…DU will appear in the NAIA regionals for the second straight year
