SURPRISE, Ariz. - The No. 3-seed Nova Southeastern women's tennis team has earned its spot in its fourth consecutive appearance in the NCAA Division II Women's Tennis National Championship.

After three consecutive years of meeting County Line rival Barry in the National Championship, this year it's Catawba College out of Salisbury, N.C. that stands between the Sharks and a 17th team national championship for Nova Southeastern.

A team that is making its fourth consecutive NCAA National Championship Match facing a team that is making the NCAA Tournament for just the third time in its program history.

Action begins at 4 p.m. EDT from the Surprise Tennis & Racquet Complex in Surprise, Ariz. on Saturday, May 23.
 

LIVE COVERAGE
Live in-match results and live stream will be made available courtesy of the NCAA. Links will be available below.
 
NCAA TOURNAMENT – NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH
Opponent: Catawba College
Date: Saturday, May 23, 4 p.m. EDT
Location: Surprise Tennis & Racquet Complex - Surprise, Arizona.
Live Results: Live Statistics
Watch Along: Watch
All-Time Series: NSU leads 1-0
Last Played: Feb. 20, 2026 (NSU won 4-2)
 

SERIES HISTORY
Saturday's National Championship will be just the second all-time meeting between the Sharks and Indians as the lone time the two sides met was earlier this season at the ITA DII Women's Indoor Championships in Indianapolis.  
 
The Sharks took down the Indians, 4-2, in the first round of competition. Catawba took the doubles point with a tiebreaker on Court 1 and a 6-3 win on Court 2. In singles, the Sharks clinched their four points with wins on Courts No. 1, No. 4, No. 5, and No. 6 with wins from Kristyna Hranacova, Amina Sagadiyeva, Chloe Henderson and Noemie Dadoun, respectively.
 

NCAA TOURNAMENT STRUCTURE
The NCAA Tournament is comprised of 48 teams, 20 automatic berths and 28 at-large selections, spanning eight regions. The teams first played a single-elimination tournament at 16 preliminary round regional sites with the champions from each regional location having advanced to the Surprise Tennis & Racquet Complex in Surprise, Arizona.
 

NCAA TOURNAMENT SCORING
The NCAA Tournament will run in a dual-match format with three doubles teams followed by six singles matches. The doubles matches will be played as three, six-game pro sets with a seven-point tiebreaker at six-all. Singles matches will be run as six best-of-three sets matches. Teams that win two of the three doubles matches earn a point. Each singles match earns a team one point. Teams must win four or more points to win a match.

 
SEEDING
At the conclusion of the regional tournaments, the 16 advancing teams were re-seeded to decide the bracket for the remainder of the NCAA Tournament. Nova Southeastern was positioned 3rd amongst the group while Catawba was slotted as No. 4.
 
A full tournament bracket can be viewed HERE.

NCAA Tournament Seeds
1-4: Mississippi College (1), Grand Valley State (2), Nova Southeastern (3), Catawba (4)
5-8: Findlay (5), Augustana (S.D.) (6), Azusa Pacific (7), Washburn (8)
9-12: Columbus State (9), UT Tyler (10), Midwestern State (11), Point Loma (12)
13-16: Queens (13), Slippery Rock (14), Indiana (Pa.) (15) Adelphi (16)
 

HOW THEY GOT HERE
Nova Southeastern clinched a fifth consecutive appearance in the National Tournament after finishing third in the Sunshine State Conference Tournament.

But the Sharks raced out to dominate its South Regional Tournament in Daytona Beach, hosted by Embry-Riddle as Nova Southeastern dispatched the No. 2 and No. 3 teams in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association's (ITA) team rankings in West Florida and Embry-Riddle, respectively.
 
Nova Southeastern was re-seeded to the No. 3 seed at the Round of 16 where it took down No. 14 Slippery Rock (4-1), No. 6 Augustana (S.D.) (4-0), and No. 2 Grand Valley State (4-2) to clinch its spot in the National Championship Match for the fourth consecutive season.
 
NSU saw its season end the last four seasons facing off against Barry University, falling in the 2022 National Semifinals, the 2023 National Championship and 2025 National Championship. The Sharks, however, unseated the Buccaneers in 2024 claiming their first National Championship in women's tennis.
 
Catawba has been brewing a perfect storm under former head coach Mic Moore. A team that finished 6-13 just five years ago now finds itself not only in its first NCAA National Championship Tournament, but now in its first National Championship Match.

Catawba is now led by Michael Cabana, who was announced as head coach of the men's and women's tennis teams at Catawba on April 22 of this year.

The Indians are 25-1 and have not lost since their second match of the season, to Nova Southeastern. Catawba look look to enact its revenge on the Sharks on the nation's biggest stage.

Catawba got to Surprise after sweeping its way through the South Atlantic Conference (SAC) Tournament with sweeps against Carson-Newman and Anderson, only dropping a single team point in its conference championship match against the ITA's No. 15 ranked team, Lenoir-Rhyne.

The Indians earned the right to host one half of the NCAA Southeast Regional where it took down Erskine (5-0), and North Georgia (4-2) to clinch its first appearance at the NCAA National Championships.

After being re-seeded as the No. 4 seed, Catawba swept its first two opponents, No. 13 Queens (N.Y.) and No. 5 Findlay before running into a juggernaut in Mississippi College, the No. 1 overall seed best known for taking down defending national champions, Barry, in the Second Round of the South Regional Tournament.

After losing the doubles point, Catawba found itself down 3-1 to the Choctaws of Mississippi College before rallying back earning a three-set victory on Court No. 1 to tie the dual at 3-3 with just Court No. 6 remaining.

Rin Igarashi for Catawba fell 6-1 in the first set and had to scratch and claw to a 11-9 tiebreaker in set two to force a semifinal-deciding third set. Igarashi took a 3-3 tie and blasted off winning the next three games to clinch the semifinal for Catawba.
 

NSU NCAA TOURNAMENT HISTORY
Nova Southeastern is in its 14th NCAA Tournament all-time. NSU has now earned national tournament berths five times, all in the last five years under the direction of head coach Doug Neagle who has coached the Sharks to now eight NCAA Tournaments, and all five National Tournaments in the program's history.
 
Nova Southeastern, which joined NCAA Division II in 2002, has established itself as one of the premiere programs in the nation over the last eight years. Since 2018-19, the Sharks have gone a combined 168-32 with seven NCAA Tournament berths. Nova Southeastern has been to the Division II championship match against Barry for three consecutive years with a national title in 2024 sandwiched between runner-up finishes in 2023 and 2025.

For Catawba, it is the first national tournament in its program history and just its third NCAA Tournament overall, each coming in the last three years. The Indians fell in 2024 in the NCAA Southeast Regional to conference rival Wingate before stumbling last year against Flagler in the Regional Second Round before finally breaking through in 2026.
 

CHUM THE WATERS WITH AWARDS
Awards have been bountiful for members of the Nova Southeastern women's tennis team in 2026, below are the honors and distinctions for just some of the Shark athletes participating.

Kristyna Hranacova

• ITA's No. 1 in Singles
• ITA's No. 1 in Doubles
• All-SSC First Team (Singles)
• All-SSC First Team (Doubles)
• Sharky's Awards – Female Ultimate Shark
• CSC Academic All-District
• ITA National Doubles Cup Champion

 Katja Markus

• ITA's No. 41 in Singles
• ITA's No. 1 in Doubles
• All-SSC Second Team (Singles)
• All-SSC First Team (Doubles)
• ITA South Region Rookie of the Year
• Sharky's Awards – Female Rising Star Nominee
• CSC Academic All-District
• ITA National Doubles Cup Champion

  Chloe Henderson

• ITA's No. 27 in Singles
• Sharky's Awards – Female Ultimate Shark
• CSC Academic All-District
• Sharky's Awards – Female Newcomer of the Year Nominee

Amina Sagadiyeva

• CSC Academic All-District

 
ITA NATIONAL RANKINGS CHECK
Teams
No. 4: Nova Southeastern
No. 6: Catawba College

Singles
No. 1: Kristyna Hranacova (NSU)
No. 26: Sofia Antolini (CAT)
No. 27: Chloe Henderson (NSU)
No. 41: Katja Markus (NSU)
No. 46: Ami Miya (CAT)
No. 69: Hanna Bougouffa (CAT)

Doubles
No. 1: Kristyna Hranacova / Katja Markus (NSU)
No. 9: Ami Miya / Liliana Drukerova (CAT)
 

BY THE (ITF World Tennis) NUMBERS
The ITF World Tennis Number provides a global rating standard for tennis players using a 40-1 scale, with 40 being a beginner player and 1 being an elite professional. The scale is for all players, regardless of age, gender, or ability. Below are the singles WTN's for the top Catawba and Nova Southeastern athletes.
 
1. Kristyna Hranacova (NSU) – 16.04
2. Hanna Bougouffa (CAT) – 18.26
3. Chloe Henderson (NSU) – 18.98
4. Katja Markus (NSU) – 19.30
5. Sofia Antolini (CAT) – 19.38
6. Ami Miya (CAT) – 19.53
7. Noemie Dadoun (NSU) – 20.26
8. Jana Boegner (NSU) – 20.60
9. Rin Igarashi (CAT) – 20.87
10. Amina Sagadiyeva (NSU) – 20.99
11. Ekaterina Kldiashvili (CAT) – 21.02
12. Liliana Drukerova (CAT) – 21.36
13. Priscila Janikian (NSU) – 24.22
 

CATAWBA PRIMER
• Roster: Link
• Overall Record: 25-1
• Home Record: 10-0
• Away Record: 6-0
• Neutral Site Record: 9-1
• Last 5 Matches: 5-0
• Streak: W24
• Head Coach: Michael Cabana | 1st Season at Catawba (5-0 [Hired on April 22])
 
Last 5 Matches
May 22: vs No. 7 Mississippi College (W, 4-3)
May 20: vs No. 14 Findlay (W, 4-0)
May 19: vs No. 37 Queens (N.Y.) (W, 4-0)
May 9: vs No. 15 North Georgia (W, 4-2)
May 8: vs Erskine (W, 5-0)

PROBABLE CATAWBA LINEUP (Last Match Order)

Singles
1-Sofia Antolini
2-Hanna Bougouffa
3-Ami Miya
4-Lili Drukerova
5-Katya Kldiashvili
6-Rin Igarashi
Doubles
1-Drukerova / Miya
2-Antolini / Igarashi
3-Agata Budnik / Tina Gomes
 

NOVA SOUTHEASTERN PRIMER
• Roster: Link
• Overall Record: 21-7
• Home Record: 8-3
• Away Record: 5-2
• Neutral Site Record: 8-2
• Last 5 Matches: 5-0
• Streak: W6
• Head Coach: Doug Neagle | 10th season at NSU (186-56, .769)
 
Last 5 Matches
May 22: vs No. 18 Grand Valley State (W, 4-2)
May 20: vs No. 23 Augustana (S.D.) (W, 4-0)
May 19: vs No. 28 Slippery Rock (W, 4-1)
May 9: at No. 3 Embry-Riddle (W, 4-1)
May 8: vs No. 2 West Florida (W, 4-2) 

PROBABLE NOVA SOUTHEASTERN LINEUP (Last Match Order)

Singles
1-Kristyna Hranacova
2-Katja Markus
3-Chloe Henderson
4-Noemie Dadoun
5-Jana Boegner
6-Amina Sagadiyeva
Doubles
1-Hranacova / Markus
2-Henderson / Dadoun
3-Boegner / Priscila Janikian
 
Saturday's National Championship will be a battle of fresh ideas vs the team with national championship experience. You can catch all the action at NCAA.com or by keeping up with Nova Southeastern Women's Tennis on social media by follow us on X and Instagram @NSU_WTennis or by logging on to our website at NSUSharks.com.