The Georgia Gwinnett College women's tennis team valiantly fought to the bitter end, nearly completing a dramatic singles comeback in a 4-3 loss to Keiser University (Florida) during Sunday's championship match of the Intercollegiate Athletic Association's inaugural NAIA Indoor Championship in Overland Park, Kansas.

The finale featured a matchup of the NAIA's top two teams, which also happened to be the top two seeds in the weekend tournament.

The No. 1-ranked Grizzlies (4-1) battled back after dropping the doubles point and splitting the first four singles points to trail the No. 2 Seahawks 3-2.

The match would be tied, 3-3, after GGC senior Angel Carney won a three-set match at No. 5 singles, winning the final two sets by 6-3 and 6-2 scores.

Then, junior Teodora Jovic also forced a third set on the No. 1 court and held a 2-1 lead over Elyse Lavender. However, the Keiser player was able to recover and took the deciding match point by winning the deciding third set by a 6-3 score.

Sunday's loss ended the Grizzlies' 63-match winning streak, dating back to March 27, 2019.

Keiser (5-0) won the doubles point as Violet Apisah and Ksenija-Ana Vujacic were victorious 6-4 on the No. 1 court. Vanja Vidanovic and Lavander then won the No. 2 match with a 7-3 tiebreaker score.

The match's lead grew to 2-0 after Apisah was a straight-set winner at No. 2 singles.

However, the Grizzlies got consecutive points with victories from juniors Justine Lespes and Stephanie Fernandez at No. 3 and No. 6 singles, respectively. Lespes defeated Vujacic by 6-2, 6-3 scores before Fernandez won by identical 6-4 set scores against Isabella Perez.

That tied the match at 2-2.

However, Keiser would regain the lead, 3-2, behind a win in straight sets by Yvette Schmucker at No. 4 singles.
  Georgia Gwinnett College is scheduled to host NCAA Division III Emory University (Georgia) on Saturday, February 11, from the GGC Tennis Facility, starting at 2 p.m.