HAMILTON, Ohio - The Miami University women's tennis team collected its 23rd Mid-American Conference Championship in program history Friday, winning a nail-biting match over the Western Michigan Broncos at Riverside Athletic Club in Hamilton to claim the outright regular season crown. The RedHawks end the regular season at 10-10 overall and 6-1 in the MAC and will enter next week's conference tournament in Buffalo as the number one seed.

The RedHawks were able to earn a crucial doubles point to start the match in a doubles session that was just as closely contested as all the singles matches that followed. Following a Bronco win at second doubles, Emily Struble and Melati Devi put away WMU's Azcui/Slavova in a 6-4 victory. The RedHawks would then clinch at first doubles as Brindtha Ramasamy and Milana Lysova would finally pull away from a back-and-forth match to win 7-5.

Miami quickly doubled its lead early in singles play as Melati Devi grabbed a quick 6-1, 6-0 victory at fifth singles in a match that finished before several other courts had even left the first set. The Broncos would also have a decisive victory of their own, however, winning 6-1, 6-1 at second singles to narrow the Miami lead to 2-1.

Western Michigan continued to storm back after that, with the court four match going their way by a 7-5, 6-3 score. Makenzie Myers answered back for the RedHawks to break the deadlock, staving off a tiebreak and closing out her match in straight sets, 6-3, 7-5. This left the RedHawks needed one victory out of the two remaining matches on courts one and three, with both of those matches in the midst of tight third-set battles.

It was the freshman Ramasamy who would break through and clinch for the 'Hawks at first singles. Despite being down 5-4 and 6-5 in the third set, she would stay resilient and force a 6-6 tiebreak, which she claimed by a 7-5 scoreline the clinch the match and the championship for Miami. With the RedHawks erupting into celebration, the remaining match on court three was left unfinished.

Full scores are listed below.

Miami will now look to add a tournament title next week in Buffalo. As the number one seed, the RedHawks will face the winner of the 4/5 match in a semifinal Saturday morning. Stay tuned to MiamiRedHawks.com and @MiamiOH_Tennis on Twitter for more updates on the tournament.

Today's victory also means that the RedHawks will serve as the host to next year's Mid-American Conference Tournament. 

Singles
1. Brindtha Ramasamy (Miami) def. Melina Lyubomirova (WMU) 6-2, 2-6, 7-6 (7-5)
2. Denise Azcui (WMU) def. Milana Lysova (Miami) 6-1, 6-1
3. Emily Struble (Miami) vs. Katja Fevralev (WMU) 7-6, 2-6, 1-0 Unfinished
4. Femke Tjon-A-Joe (WMU) def. Priyana Kalita (Miami) 7-5, 6-3
5. Melati Devi (Miami) def. Kristina Tiraspolsky (WMU) 6-1, 6-0
6. Makenzie Myers (Miami) def. Valerie Riegraf (WMU) 6-3, 7-5

Order of finish: 5, 2, 4, 6, 1

Doubles
1. Ramasamy/Lysova (Miami) def. Fevralev/Tiraspolsky (WMU) 7-5
2. Lyubomirova/Tjon-A-Joe (WMU) def. Kalita/Myers (Miami) 6-3
3. Struble/Devi (Miami) def. Azcui/Slavova (6-4)

Order of finish: 2, 3, 1