PEACHTREE CITY, Ga. — The
Tuskegee women's tennis team claimed its second consecutive SIAC championship title on Saturday afternoon with a commanding 4-0 win over No. 2 seed
Albany State at the Peachtree City Tennis Center.
The top-seeded Golden Tigers improved to 16-6 overall on the season, while Albany State closed out its campaign at 13-7.
Tuskegee secured its third win in as many days at the 2025 Cricket SIAC Women's Tennis Championship, continuing a dominant postseason run that saw the Golden Tigers lose only two total points across three matches.
Saturday's victory was powered by strong doubles play and convincing singles performances from the team's veteran leaders and rising stars.
The Golden Tigers set the tone early by clinching the doubles point with wins on courts two and three.
The pair of
Dayna Jackson and
Gabrielle Blanks got the scoring started with a 6-3 win over Albany State's Jonay Brittain and Julie Tungamirai on court two.
Moments later, the duo of
Taylor Ford and
Gabrielle Geary delivered a dominant 6-1 victory on court three against Mykala Eckler and Kennedy Talbert, giving Tuskegee the early 1-0 advantage.
Court one doubles, featuring
Tanyaradzwa Kaome and
Leiloni Payton for Tuskegee, was left unfinished with the Golden Tigers leading 5-4 over Natalya Ogunwale and Jenny Zapien, as the doubles point had already been clinched.
In singles action, Payton quickly extended Tuskegee's lead to 2-0 with a flawless performance on court three, defeating Kennedy Talbert in straight sets, 6-0, 6-0. Payton's win capped off an unbeaten tournament in which she did not drop a single set.
Ford followed with another decisive win, defeating Julie Tungamirai on court five, 6-2, 6-1, using her consistency and baseline control to wear down her opponent.
The clinching point came from
Chloe Griffin-Harrington on court six, who rolled to a 6-2, 6-0 victory over Mykala Eckler, securing Tuskegee's 4-0 triumph and triggering the celebration.
The remaining three singles matches went unfinished. Kaome was in the midst of a comeback on court one, trailing 5-7, 4-3 against Ogunwale.
On court two, Blanks led 7-6, 1-0 against Brittain after a tight first-set tiebreak. Jackson had dropped her first set 6-7 on court four but was leading 1-0 in the second.
With Saturday's win, Tuskegee closed out the 2025 SIAC season with a perfect record in conference matches and secured the program's second straight SIAC Championship under head coach
Gregory Green, who was recently named SIAC Women's Coach of the Year.
The title adds to a season that also saw multiple All-Conference selections and individual honors.
The Golden Tigers now await potential regional postseason selections as they continue their rise in the NCAA Division II South Region rankings.
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ABOUT THE SOUTHERN INTERCOLLEGIATE ATHLETIC CONFERENCE (SIAC)
The SIAC is a NCAA athletic conference consisting primarily of historically black colleges and universities with headquarters in downtown Atlanta, Georgia. The SIAC includes 15 member institutions (Albany State University, Allen University, Benedict College, Central State University, Clark Atlanta University, Edward Waters University, Fort Valley State University, Kentucky State University, Lane College, LeMoyne-Owen College, Miles College, Morehouse College, Savannah State University, Spring Hill College, and Tuskegee University), which are located within a contiguous seven-state footprint (Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Kentucky, South Carolina, Tennessee and Ohio). The SIAC sponsors nine men's and seven women's sports and is a proud member of the NCAA Division II. For more information, visit
www.thesiac.com.