SPRINGFIELD, Mo.– Drury won their eighth Great Lakes Valley Conference championship in program history on Sunday with a 5-2 win over the University of Missouri-St. Louis at the Cooper Tennis Complex in Springfield.
 
The Panthers, ranked 18th in NCAA-II, improved to 18-1 while the Tritons fell to 14-5.
 
Drury opened the match winning two out of three in doubles. Josephine Jedrychowski and Viktoriya Zheleva got Drury won the board with an 8-1 win, and the Panthers took the lead with an 8-6 win from Chung-Yen Huang and JiaQing Mo.
 
Larrisa Karl won in Drury's lead singles position 7-5, 6-1 over Salome Bleuler and the Panthers clinched the match on Mo's 6-1, 6-3 win over Leticia Lunge.
 
The championship is Drury's first GLVC crown since 2014 when they defeated Lewis 5-4 for the title.
 
Following the match, Panthers head coach Jarrod Smith was named the GLVC Coach of the Year. It was Smith's fifth Coach of the Year award from the conference.
 
With their GLVC championship, Drury will receive an automatic bid to the NCAA-II tournament. An announcement will be made later this week on the pairings and the two sites for the Midwest Sub-Regional tournaments. 
 
#18 Drury University 5, Missouri-St. Louis 2
Apr 22, 2018, at Springfield, MO (Cooper Tennis Complex) 

Singles competition
1. Larissa Karl (DU) def. Salome Bleuler (UMSL) 7-5, 6-1
2. Marina Prediger (UMSL) def. Chung-Yen Huang (DU) 6-3, 6-4
3. Viktoriya Zheleva (DU) def. Kristine Lindal (UMSL) 1-6, 7-6, 6-4
4. Jo. Jedrychowski (DU) vs. Annie Hays (UMSL) 6-7, 5-1, unfinished
5. JiaQing Mo (DU) def. Leticia Lunge (UMSL) 6-1, 6-3
6. Julia Schepp (DU) vs. Janet Auclair (UMSL) 6-4, 3-4, unfinished
Doubles competition
1. Chung-Yen Huang/JiaQing Mo (DU) def. Marina Prediger/Leticia Lunge (UMSL) 8-6
2. Salome Bleuler/Kristine Lindal (UMSL) def. Larissa Karl/Julia Schepp (DU) 8-5
3. Jo. Jedrychowski/Viktoriya Zheleva (DU) def. Annie Hays/Janet Auclair (UMSL) 8-1
Match Notes
Missouri-St. Louis 14-5
Drury University 18-1; National ranking #18
Order of finish: Doubles (3,2,1); Singles (1,2,3,5)
2018 GLVC Championship match
#1 West (Drury)
#2 West (UMSL)

 
 
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