Skyhawk tennis coach Dennis Taylor said his women’s team went on a mission a year ago and it ended today with the O’Reilly Ohio Valley Conference Tennis Tournament Championship at Centennial Sportsplex in Nashville.

The Skyhawks, seeded No. 1 in the tournament with an unblemished 9-0 regular season record, claimed a 4-3 victory over their biggest conference rival No. 2 seeded Murray State.

The OVC championship is the third for Taylor and Tennessee-Martin’s women. The Skyhawks claimed OVC titles in 1994 and 1995.

The championship came down to the No. 5 singles match where Skyhawk junior Jeanne de Wet defeated Murray State’s Casady Pruitt 3-6, 6-4, 7-5.

“It was rough,” de Wet said. “I did what I had to do.”

De Wet lost the first set, but came back to win the second set 6-4. “I realized toward the end of the second set that this was it,” she said. “This was the championship and it was up to me.”

De Wet jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the third set, but Pruitt battled back to tie the set at 4-4. De Wet took the lead again at 5-4, but once again Pruitt knotted it at 5-5. Finally, de Wet went up 6-5 and won the set, match and championship on the serve.

“It turned out all right,” de Wet said.

Things also turned out all right for the Skyhawks in doubles.

Senior Sari Nortje and Katrina Domela defeated Jacleyn Leeper and Anna Lask 8-4 in the No. 2 doubles match, while Gayatri Ramesh and de Wet won 8-2 in the No. 3 doubles match.

The two victories gave the Skyhawks a one-point lead going into the singles action.

Nortje suffered her first loss of the season at No. 1 singles. Murray State’s Anna Lask beat the OVC’s Player of the Year 6-1, 6-3.

“The girl (Lask) was so psyched up,” Nortje said. “Every time she won a point, you though she won the match. It was very intense, but winning the championship feels better than last year.”

Nortje’s reference to last year’s heart-breaking loss in the championship to Samford served as the motivation for this year’s Skyhawk success. The loss also marked the beginning of the mission.

“Our girls deserve this,” Taylor said. “It was a tough fight all year and it goes back to last year.”

While the championship hinged on the outcome of de Wet’s match, Taylor said the undefeated conference run and the tournament title were the results of the entire team.

“It took everybody from the trainer on up for us to win.”

Murray State also claimed a win at No. 2 and No. 4 singles. At No. 3 singles, senior Elly Shearman defeated Murray State’s Jennifer Ward 6-2, 6-4 and at No. 6 singles, freshman Elizma Schoonees defeated Murray State’s Christina Hall 6-2, 6-3.

Along with the tournament championship and the automatic berth in the NCAA regional next month, the Skyhawks placed three players, Nortje, Domela and Schoonees, on the All-OVC first team. Shearman was named to the all-conference’s second team and Taylor was named the Coach of the Year.

Nortje was named the OVC’s Player of the Year.

“The award came as a complete surprise,” Nortje said. “It hasn’t sunk in yet.”