DURANT, Okla. – Southeastern will look to take advantage of its No. 1 seed when it opens play in the Great American Conference Tournament against Ouachita Baptist on April 18 at 1 p.m. in Bentonville, Ark.
The Savage Storm picked up its first regular season conference championship by running the table in league play, picking up wins over OBU, Harding and East Central, all on the road.
In addition to its 3-0 conference record, SE put together a 13-6 mark overall, including winning back-to-back matches to end the regular season.
When the Storm met OBU during the regular season it opened the match with a 2-1 lead after picking up a pair of wins in doubles play.
The first of those wins coming from the duo of
Tiago Ferreira and
Alberto Blesa who won 8-1 at number two doubles, while
Billy Haugen and
Nathan Nelmes also posted an 8-1 win at number three to offset the loss at number one.
The Tigers would take a brief 3-2 lead with wins at numbers one and two singles, but
Petar Popovic would pick up a hard-fought 7-5, 1-6, 10-8 win at number three to even the match, and Ferreira would follow with a 6-2, 6-2 win to put the Storm in front for good at 4-3.
Bedcarratz would add a 6-0, 6-3 win at number five and
Renato Joao chipped in a 6-4, 6-2 win at number six to round out the 6-3 team victory,
SE has been paced on the year by
Nathan Nelmes and
Alberto Blesa who come into the tournament after being named first team All-GAC following the conclusion of the regular season.
Nelmes was also tabbed the conference's Newcomer of the Year, while head coach
Shawn Hamil was named the GAC Coach of the Year.
A win in its match on Friday earns a berth in the conference championship final to face the winner between Harding and East Central, with the title match set for an 11 a.m. start on April 20.
