JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Coming down to the wire in the opening round of the Atlantic Sun Conference Championship on Thursday afternoon, the Lipscomb University women's tennis team eliminated Florida Gulf Coast University by a 4-3 score from the University of North Florida Tennis Courts. 

Final Score: (4) Lipscomb 4, (5) Florida Gulf Coast 3
Location: Jacksonville, Florida (UNF Tennis Courts) 
Records: Lipscomb (13-6), Florida Gulf Coast (12-9)

HOW IT HAPPENED
Lipscomb took the doubles point to get the tournament off to a great start. Sofiia Paladi and Mariia Dolzhenko (8-6) won on court one, 6-2. At the second flight, Rut Galindo and Deborah Dominguez Collado (9-3) put the Bisons on the board with their win, 6-3. 

In singles, FGCU used straight-set wins from Francisca Vergara and Nora Svensson to flip the score to 2-1 in favor of the Eagles. However, Galindo restored order on court three. After a 6-0 shutout to take the first set, her opponent in Anjali Kotecha went toe-to-toe with Galindo, forcing a seven-point tiebreak. 

In the break, Galindo (11-8) won it by a 7-4 score to pick up her fifth straight win to even the match at two points apiece. 

Sofiia Zhylchuk (16-11) put Lipscomb one flight away from advancing to the semifinals with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Paloma Goldsmith at the number six flight. 

However, Florida Gulf Coast won on court one with a 7-6 (6), 6-2 result to see the match come down to the No. 2 flight in Dolzhenko.

The 2025 All-ASUN First Team selection rallied from a first set loss to win the next two, 6-2, 6-3, for her 22nd win of the season and improving her spring record to 14-4.

HERD NOTES
With the win, the Bisons avenged last season's loss to the Eagles in the semifinals in 2024. 

Lipscomb returns to the semifinals for the seventh time in program history. 

UP NEXT
Lipscomb returns to action to take on the regular season champion and top-seed in Stetson in the semifinals Friday afternoon at 1:30 p.m. CDT from Jacksonville.