BEAUMONT – McNeese State's quest for a Southland Conference championship came to an end here Saturday in the semifinals of the conference tournament in a match where the Cowgirls and Nicholls Lady Colonels that was the equivalence of a 15-round boxing match.
 
Nicholls (20-4), the No. 1 seed and regular season champion, edged No. 4 McNeese (13-8) by a 4-3 score. The deciding factor in the match came down to the No. 6 singles where McNeese's Anastasija Trubich couldn't finish off Nicholls' Isla Brock after winning the first set 6-3 then fell 7-5 and 7-5 in the next two sets to fall in defeat.
 
Nicholls won the doubles point after Marie Aubert and Milou Pietersz beat McNeese's Hanna Brett and Julia Kral in the No. 2 match by an 8-2 score. The Lady Colonels captured the point following a win in the No. 1 match with the team of Stephanie Barnett and Kiara Skopac beating Trubich and Klaudia Gawlik by an 8-5 score.
 
The top seeded team opened up a 3-0 lead in the match following wins by Aubert over Brett in the No. 3 singles (6-0, 6-2) and Barnett beating Gawlik in No. 1 action (6-3, 6-3). But the Cowgirls would not fold and rallied to win the next three singles matches to even the score at 3-3 beginning with Sarah Jurakova's 6-2, 6-3 win over Pietersz in the No. 4 match.
 
In the No. 5 matchup, Vivien Borberly swept Kateryna Nakonechna 7-5 and 6-4 to cut the Nicholls lead to 3-2. Then in the No. 2 competition, Kral rallied for a 3-set win over Skopac 7-5, 4-6, 6-2 to even things up.
 
The deciding match between Trubich and Brock opened up with a 6-3 first set win by the McNeese netter. Brock and Trubich went toe-to-toe the next two sets with Brock edging out 7-5 victories in both to seal the win for the Lady Colonels and advance them to Sunday's championship match against Northwestern State.
 
Nicholls 4, McNeese 3
Apr 25, 2015 at Beaumont, Texas (Beaumont Tennis Complex)

Singles competition
1. Stephanie Barnett (NICH) def. Klaudia Gawlik (MCN) 6-3, 6-3
2. Julia Kral (MCN) def. Klara Skopac (NICH) 7-5, 4-6, 6-2?
3. Marie Aubert (NICH) def. Hannah Brett (MCN) 6-0, 6-2?
4. Sarah Jurakova (MCN) def. Milou Pietersz (NICH) 6-2, 6-3
5. Vivien Borbely (MCN) def. Kateryna Nakonechna (NICH) 7-5, 6-4
6. Isla Brock (NICH) def. Anastasija Trubich (MCN) 3-6, 7-5, 7-5

Doubles competition
1. Stephanie Barnett/Klara Skopac (NICH) def. Klaudia Gawlik/Anastasija Trubich (MCN) 8-5?
2. Marie Aubert/Milou Pietersz (NICH) def. Hannah Brett/Julia Kral (MCN) 8-2?
3. Kateryna Nakonechna/Isla Brock (NICH) vs. Sarah Jurakova/Vivien Borbely (MCN) 4-6, unfinished

Match Notes:? McNeese 13-8?, Nicholls 20-4?
Order of finish: Doubles (2,1); Singles (3,1,4,5,2,6)
Nicholls - #1 Seed, McNeese State - #4?
2015 Southland Conference Championship Semifinals
Nicholls advances to the 2015 SLC Championship Match