ARLINGTON, Texas --- The top-seeded UT Arlington women's tennis team (18-4) suffered a heartbreaking end to the season with a 4-2 loss to No. 4 Grand Canyon (14-9) in the semifinals of the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) tournament on Friday at the Arlington Tennis Center.
 
With the victory, Grand Canyon advances to face No. 2 Tarleton at 9 a.m. on Saturday for the championship.
 
Entering Friday's semifinal, the Lady Mavs knew they were in for a tough matchup. The two teams had battled to a 4-3 finish on March 26 with UTA coming out on top, and all three of GCU's regular season conference losses came in 4-3 fashion.
 
In doubles action, Grand Canyon picked up an early lead with wins on the top two courts. The duo of Tara Gorinsek and Ana Paula Jimenez lost a tough game to go down 4-2 and couldn't recover while Liz Chileno and Sarina Reinertsen fell in a close 6-4 set at No. 2.
 
In singles action, UT Arlington suffered heartbreaking defeats on the first and fourth courts after producing decent leads.
 
Francisca Vergara got singles started positively for the Lady Mavs with a 6-2, 6-2 win on the sixth court. Grand Canyon responded with a win at No. 2 as Gorinsek fell 6-2, 6-2. The back-and-forth action continued as Reinertsen rallied for a 3-6, 6-2, 6-0 win at No. 3 to even things up.
 
At that point, Bruna Casasampere had dropped her opening set 6-2 to Anali Kocevar, but looked to be on track to force a third after she won the first three games in the ensuing set. Kocevar, however, won six straight to put GCU up 3-2.
 
Jimenez then won an absolute battle in the second set at No. 5, claiming a 7-5 win in the tiebreaker to force a third set. However, shortly thereafter, Chileno was defeated 6-4 in the second set at No. 1 by Natasha Puehse as GCU rushed the court in celebration.
 
Chileno had won a long deuce rally to go up 2-0 in the opening set and came out on top in several long baseline rallies to push her lead to 4-1. Puehse, however, rallied to win the next four games and ultimately win the set 7-5.
 
Grand Canyon 4, UT Arlington 2
 
Singles
1. Natasha Puehse (GCU) d. Liz Chileno 7-5, 6-4
2. Santa Strombacha (GCU) d. Tara Gorinsek 6-2, 6-2
3. Sarina Reinertsen (UTA) d. Dania Deaifi 3-6, 6-2, 6-0
4. Anali Kocevar (GCU) d. Bruna Casasampere 6-2, 6-3
5. Unfinished
6. Francisca Vergara (UTA) d. Valentina Del Marco 6-2, 6-2
Order of Finish: 6, 2, 3. 4, 1
 
Doubles
1. Natasha Puehse/Santa Strombacha (GCU) d. Tara Gorinsek/Ana Paula Jimenez 6-2
2. Anali Kocevar/Madeline Lamoreaux (GCU) d. Liz Chileno/Sarina Reinertsen 6-4
3. Unfinished
Order of Finish: 1, 2
 
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