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ROCK HILL, S.C. – Top-seeded Winthrop women's tennis (19-5, 8-0 Big South Conference) clinched its 20^th all-time Big South Conference Championship title with a dramatic 4-3 win over second-seeded Liberty Saturday morning at Rock Hill Tennis Center. With the conference championship victory, Winthrop earns an automatic bid to the 2018 NCAA Championship.

HOW IT HAPPENED 
-Winthrop dropped the doubles point for just the fourth time all season as Liberty earned wins on courts two and three. The Flames struck first with a win at court two and the Eagles answered with a 6-2 victory at No. 1. Lauren Proctor and Megan Kauffman remained undefeated on the year with the win, an improvement on their regular season win over Liberty's No. 1 duo Evangeline Crist and Anna Dollar in which they needed a set tiebreak to win 7-6.
 
-Newcomers would lead the way in singles as Tayla Van Eck and Ellie Burns scored the Eagles' first two points in singles play.
 
-Freshman Tayla Van Eck put down a dominant 6-1, 6-4 victory at No. 4, improving on her 6-4, 7-5 regular season win over Liberty's Polina Miroshnichenko. Tied at 4-4 in the second set, Van Eck went up 5-4 on a break and secured victory on serve.
 
-In a reversal of fortunes at court six, Ellie Burns took down Liberty's Anna Dollar 6-2, 6-1 to give Winthrop a 2-1 team score lead. Burns fell to Dollar 6-1, 6-2 in her only regular season conference loss.
 
-Liberty would pull ahead 3-2 with wins at No. 3 and No. 5, following the regular season pattern.
 
-At court one, the 32^nd-ranked player in the country Lauren Proctor brought the match to an even 3-3 with a straight-set win. Proctor battled to earn a 6-6 tie on a break in the first set, then took the tiebreak 7-5. Proctor would cruise to a 6-3 win in the second set, going up 5-3 on serve and taking the win on a break.
 
-The match decision would come down to the No. 2 position and Alisa Soloveva against Liberty's Maria Medina. Soloveva cruised in the first set to a 6-2 win, but Medina battled back in the second to take a 5-1 lead. With the match in the balance, Soloveva hung on to get two more games, but Medina took the set 6-3 to force a third set. With a new set, Soloveva came out firing, going up 3-0 before Medina would earn a game on a break. Soloveva would go up 5-1 with another break and hold of her own, but Medina would answer, taking two-straight games herself to pull within 5-3. Soloveva clinched the match and the team championship win on a break.

NOTABLES
- No. 32 Lauren Proctor (20-2) and Alisa Soloveva (19-3) own the best two records in the Big South Conference. Proctor is undefeated against conference opponents and has won all but one of her league matches in straight-sets, while Soloveva has also won each of her conference matches, with today's match against Medina being the first time a league opponent took Soloveva to three sets.

-No. 29 doubles duo Lauren Proctor and Megan Kauffman remained undefeated and improved to 22-0 on the season with their victory on court one.

-Ellie Burns has won nine of her last 10 matches, all but one in straight sets.
 

UP NEXT – NCAA TOURNAMENT
Winthrop has earned an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament and will await NCAA bracket selection announcements on Tues., May 1 at 5 p.m. ET.

FULL RESULTS  

Singles
1. PROCTOR, Lauren (WIN) def. BONGART, Ashley (LIBERTYW) 7-6 (7-5), 6-3
2. SOLOVEVA, Alisa (WIN) def. MEDINA, Maria (LIBERTYW) 6-2, 3-6, 6-3
3. SOARES, Lara (LIBERTYW) def. KAUFFMAN, Megan (WIN) 6-2, 6-3
4. VAN ECK, Tayla (WIN) def. MIROSHNICHENKO, P. (LIBERTYW) 6-1, 6-4
5. CRIST, Evangeline (LIBERTYW) def. KELIC, Aida (WIN) 6-3, 6-1
6. BURNS, Ellie (WIN) def. DOLLAR, Anna (LIBERTYW) 6-2, 6-1

Doubles
1. PROCTOR, Lauren/KAUFFMAN, Megan (WIN) def. DOLLAR, Anna/CRIST, Evangeline (LIBERTYW) 6-2
2. MEDINA, Maria/SOARES, Lara (LIBERTYW) def. SOLOVEVA, Alisa/VAN ECK, Tayla (WIN) 6-1
3. ANDERSON, Rebekah/HASHIGUCHI, Grace (LIBERTYW) def. KELIC, Aida/BURNS, Ellie (WIN) 6-4

2018 BIG SOUTH WOMEN'S TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIP SCHEDULE
Wednesday, April 18 – First Round
Match 1:  No. 8 Gardner-Webb vs. No. 9 Longwood, 10:00am – Longwood, 4-3
 
Thursday, April 19 – Quarterfinals
Match 2:  No. 1 Winthrop vs. No. 9 Longwood, 9:00am – Winthrop, 4-0
Match 3:  No. 4 Charleston Southern vs. No. 5 Presbyterian College, 12:00pm - Presbyterian, 4-2
Match 4:  No. 2 Liberty vs. No. 7 UNC Asheville, 3:00pm - Liberty, 4-0
Match 5:  No. 3 Campbell vs. No. 6 Radford, 6:00pm - Campbell, 4-1
 
Friday, April 20 – Semifinals
Match 6:  No. 1 Winthrop vs. No. 5 Presbyterian, 10:00am – Winthrop, 4-0
Match 7:  No. 2 Liberty vs. No. 3 Campbell, 2:00pm - Liberty, 4-0
 
Saturday, April 21 – Championship
Match 8:  No. 1 Winthrop vs. No. 2 Liberty, 10:00am – Winthrop, 4-3