The University of Charleston snapped West Virginia State's streak of four straight conference women's tennis tournament titles on Sunday. The Golden Eagles defeated the Yellow Jackets, 5-4, in Huntington for the Mountain East crown.
It marks UC's first MEC championship and the first conference championship for the Golden Eagles women since winning the West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference tournament in the 2011-12 season.
The Golden Eagles took two of three doubles matches to go into the singles round with a 2-1 advantage. The championship came down to the No. 1 and No. 2 singles matches, with UC up 4-3.
State's Kierstin Hensley, defeated UC's Elise Edwards, 3-6, 6-2, 6-2, at No. 2 to even the match. At No. 1 UC's Kristine Gegeshidze rallied from a set down to beat WVSU's Laura Isbey, the 2016 MEC player of the year, 6-7, 7-5, 6-3.
WVSU had held a stranglehold on conference tournament championships over the previous four seasons. The Yellow Jackets won the final WVIAC tournament crown and the first three MEC tournaments. State had beaten UC 6-3 in the regular season, but the Golden Eagles have rattled off five straight wins since then.