At the 2008 NCAA Division II Sports Festival in Houston, the Armstrong Atlantic State women’s tennis team won the national title over Lynn. That morning, both Alida Muller-Wehlau and Gabriella Kovacs had match point, with Muller-Wehlau scoring the deciding point in the 5-2 win.

This year, it was Kovacs’ turn.

The junior from Szazhalombatta, Hungary, closed out a 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 win over Jessica Yanoff at No. 4 singles to clinch the No. 3-ranked Lady Pirates’ fifth NCAA Division II Women’s Tennis National Championship, 5-2 again, over No. 2-ranked Lynn (28-1) on Saturday afternoon at Sanlando Park in Altamonte Springs, Fla.

The Pirates (28-1) entered singles play needing just three wins, but Lynn won the first set in four of the six singles matches.

AASU now joins BYU-Hawaii (2002, 2003) as the only teams to win Division II Back-to-Back National Championships with both the men’s and the women’s teams. The Lady Pirates have also won back-to-back titles twice in school history, the first coming in 1995 and 1996. AASU evened its mark in NCAA DII National Championship contests at 5-5 – this was the Lady Pirates 10th appearance in the final. Lynn was making its seventh appearance in the finals and is 3-4 in those contests.

The win also avenged a 5-4 loss at Lynn back in March, the only loss this season for the Lady Pirates.

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–Courtesy AASU