Box Score

MUNCIE, Ind. -- Miami University's women's tennis team downed top-seed Ball State, 4-2, to earn a chance at a Mid-American Conference Tournament title, Saturday afternoon.

For the second-straight day, Miami used strong singles play to overcome a slow start on the doubles court as it avenged a 4-3 home loss to Ball State two weeks prior. The regular season MAC champion Cardinals jumped ahead quickly with a pair of quick wins on the doubles court at flights one and two as juniors Hannah Shteyn and Anastasiia Vasiukhina dropped their match to Audrey Berger and Julia Sbircea, 6-2 at No. 2 and juniors Nelli Ponomareva and Anzhelika Shapovalova fell to Carmen Blanco and Peyton Gollhofer, 6-3 at the top spot.

The Cardinals bumped their lead to 2-0 as Audrey Berger got past Vasiukhina (6-2, 6-2) at No. 6. Undeterred, the 'Hawks rallied at no. 4 where sophomore Emily Struble put the Red & White on the board with a win over Rebecca Herrington (6-4, 6-1). Another win from senior Andreea Badileanu tied the match up after she topped Toni Ormond (6-3, 6-2). The last two recorded decisions came down to a second-set tiebreaker and both broke the way of the RedHawks. Miami took the lead for the first time in the match thanks to Shteyn's win at no. 5 over Isabell Dohanics (6-3, 7-6 (7-5)). Shapovalova clinched the match after downing Peyton Gollhofer in straight sets (6-2, 7-6 (7-1)), sending MU into Sunday's championship.

Miami takes on Buffalo in Sunday's championship, which starts at noon.