NATIONAL CHAMPIONS, THREE STRAIGHT! No. 1 Lady Pirates Complete 5-1 Win Over BYU-Hawaii

The "three-peat" is intact for the Armstrong Atlantic State University Lady Pirates ! And just as it was a year ago, senior Gabriella Kovacs provided the match-clinching moment as she beat Shawni Porter, 6-2, 6-2, at No. 4 singles to give AASU their sixth NCAA Division II Women's Tennis National Championship !

Singles play began with the Lady Pirates taking four of the first six sets. Sona Novakova and Martina Beckmann, who dropped their first sets, rallied to split sets, then No. 49-ranked Kathleen Henry beat Sophia Simmons, 6-2, 6-4, to give AASU its first singles point. No. 21-ranked Tina Ronel followed with a 6-1, 6-3 win over Ayako Ikeda at No. 3 singles, and less an two minutes later, Kovacs finished off Porter for the match victory!

AASU now joins a select group of DII schools to earn three consecutive NCAA Division II Women's Tennis titles - Chattanooga (1983-85), SIU Edwardsville (1986-89) and Saturday's opponent, BYU-Hawaii (2002-04).

Tomorrow afternoon at 2 p.m., AASU will host a championship celebration for the Lady Pirates at Alumni Arena. So come out and greet the Lady Pirates as they bring home the National Championship trophy to Savannah for a third straight year !