KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The 2006 Armstrong Atlantic women's tennis season represented a complete
reversal from 2005 - in all aspects as BYU-Hawaii, the No. 2-ranked team
in the nation, upset the top-ranked and defending DII national champion
Armstrong Atlantic State Pirates, 5-3, in the NCAA Division II Women's
Tennis Championship match on Saturday afternoon in Kansas City, Mo.
Last year, the Pirates (30-1) were chasing the Seasiders all season long, then knocked off BYU-Hawaii in the National Championship match, 5-3, for the school's third title, winning at every spot but No. 1 doubles and No. 1 and 2 singles to capture the title.
This year, it was the Seasiders chasing the Pirates, and BYU-Hawaii won at the bottom to defeat the Pirates. AASU senior Luisa Cowper and sophomore Iuliia Stupak won at No. 1 doubles over the top-ranked duo of Jing Jing Liu and Ramona Husaru, 8-4, then Cowper defeated Liu at No. 1 singles, 7-5, 6-3, and Stupak defeated Julia Ustyuzhanina, 6-3, 6-3, at No. 2 singles. But those would be the only three points the Pirates would get as the Seasiders won at No. 2 and No. 3 doubles, then picked up singles wins at No. 3, No. 4 and No. 5 to clinch their fourth title in the last five seasons and end AASU's 60-match win streak.
AASU finishes runner-up in the nation for the fifth time in school history, and Saturday's match was the eighth trip to the finals for the Lady Pirates. Head coach Simon Earnshaw, the ITA's DII National Coach of the Year, loses four players from this year's squad - ITA Senior of the Year Cowper, Manuela Emmrich, Caroline Grage and Kristen Kelly.