It all came down to match three.
All eyes were on the third court in the Chippewa Club as Sabina Brichackova (Cheb, Czechia/Gymnázium Jana Blahoslava) for Eastern Michigan University and Nishitha Saravanan for Miami University were engaged in a back and forth battle down to the wire.
By the time the two foes had reached their third set, the match was all tied up at 3-3, Eastern Michigan having rallied back from being swept in the doubles portion of the meet thanks to singles wins from Daniella Shved (Holon, Israel/Ort Holon), Kseniia Saenko (Voronezh, Russia/Gymnasium 2), and Lara Diaz Zayas (Mar de Ajo, Argentina/SEADEA).
Saenko and Diaz Zayas were able to win their bouts in straight sets, while Shved rallied back from a loss in her second set to ultimately take victory in the final stage, 6-4.
This was the fourth consecutive match for the Eagles that was destined to end in a 4-3 score, all against Mid-American Conference competition — and while Eastern Michigan had been 2-1 in the previous three outcomes, this time around they would have no such luck.
As the final match on court three moved to its final set, Brichackova waged a comeback from being down early in the frame to tie things back up at 4-4.
She and Saravanan exchanged sets and shots back and forth like they were going tit for tat, eventually leading to their match being tied at 6-6. This meant that one final set was necessary break the tie and decide the match and overall winner.
Saravanan would ultimately get the best of Brichackova in the final tiebreaker round 7-3, delivering victory for Miami and defeat for Eastern Michigan in a match between the two teams that lasted roughly three and a half hours.
The win moved Miami up to 6-8 (5-0 MAC) on the campaign, while Eastern Michigan dropped to 9-9 (2-3 MAC), a loss that snapped their six match home win streak.
Next week, the Eagles will hit the road with two more conference dates on the docket. First up is a match against the University of Toledo on Friday, April 4 at 1 p.m., followed by another away match against Buffalo on Sunday, April 6 at 1 p.m.
