NCAA Championships: D2 Nova Southeastern women, D3 Tufts men reach 1st national final

A high-stakes Monday at the USTA National Campus saw the NCAA Championships continue with the semifinals in both the Division II women's competition and the Division III men's tournament, before the Barry University men claimed the first national title of the year in the evening's Division II final.

Both the Nova Southeastern women (D2) and the Tufts men (D3) advanced to their first NCAA final, setting up title showdowns against Barry University and Case Western University, respectively.

The Nova Southeastern Sharks from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., battled back against Hawaii Pacific, earning a 4-2 win after dropping the doubles point. Graduate student Fatima Bizhukova clinched the victory with a 6-4, 7-6 decision at No. 4 singles as her team swept the No. 2 through No. 5 spots in singles play.

“I'm so happy. I have no words to be honest, because I clinched the match," Bizhukova said. "Usually, I'm a very calm person, but right now it just feels unreal.

“I think for us, not only this match, but just the whole season, we're always together and we fight for each other. And honestly, when I was at my match and I was down, I was always down, I was coming back. I was always thinking about the girls. I was thinking how much we want it—all of us, coaches, our athletic trainer, psychologist, all of us. We just wanted it so much and we're never going to give up.”

Both of the men's Division III semifinals came down to the final match, with Tufts and the undefeated Case Western advancing to the title round with a pair of dramatic, 5-4 victories.

Tufts, seeded second, overcame a 2-1 deficit after doubles to beat Claremont-Mudd-Scripps with singles wins at No. 2, 3, 5 and 6. Freshman Alex Ganchev of Bulgaria scored a 6-4, 7-5 win at No. 3 to finish the job, battling back from 5-3 down in the second set as he handled the pressure of the deciding match.

“You try to not think about it honestly, because if not, it will get in your head, you feel the pressure and then you might crumble," he said of being the final match to finish. "So what I tried to do is stay present, take deep breaths, focus point by point, and I hope for the best and just go for it.”

After a semifinal loss to eventual champions Chicago last season, Tufts used the lessons learned to go one step further this year.