KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The bracket for the upcoming 2016 MIAA Women's Tennis Championship was officially announced by the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association Sunday evening.
 
No. 16-ranked Northeastern State will be the No. 1 seed of the tournament, which will be contested April 29-May 1 at Cooper Tennis Complex in Springfield, Missouri. This marks the third-straight year that NSU will serve as the tournament's top seed.
 
The RiverHawks (17-2, 10-0 MIAA), who recently won the regular season title for the third-straight year, enter the conference championship on a 13-match win streak. NSU will meet No. 8 seed Washburn (8-12, 3-7 MIAA) in the first round at 9 a.m. April 29. The winner of that match moves on to the semifinals and will face either No. 4 Northwest Missouri State or No. 5 Central Oklahoma at noon April 30. The championship match is set for noon May 1.
 
This will be the fourth-straight season that Northeastern State will face the Ichabods in the opening round of the tournament. The RiverHawks are 7-0 against Washburn since joining the MIAA in 2013.
 
Northeastern State is currently the No. 1-ranked team in the Central Region according to the most-recent polls issued by both the NCAA and ITA on April 20.
 
NSU is a combined 48-11 (.814) in singles matches against league opposition, and the green and white also finished the year 23-7 (.767) in doubles matches against conference foes.
 
Junior Patricia Husakova boasts a top record of 18-1 in singles, playing primarily at the No. 1 position. She is the nation's No. 32-ranked singles player. Sophomore Molly Worden is 17-2, true freshman Karla Tomaic is 16-3 and junior Valeriia Efimenko sports a 13-2 singles record.
 
The Husakova/Worden duo is ranked fourth in the Central Region and they are 9-3 this spring.
 
Northeastern State has advanced to the championship match of the conference tournament each of the last three years, falling all three times to Southwest Baptist. The Bearcats enter this year's event as the No. 2 seed, and they are currently ranked No. 11 in the nation.
 
2016 MIAA CHAMPIONSHIP SCHEDULE (Cooper Tennis Complex)

Friday, April 29 (Quarterfinals)
Match 1: #1 Northeastern State vs. #8 Washburn	9 am
Match 2: #2 Southwest Baptist vs. #7 Lindenwood	9 am
Match 3: #3 Nebraska-Kearney vs. #6 Missouri Western State	Noon
Match 4: #4 Northwest Missouri State vs. #5 Central Oklahoma	Noon
Saturday, April 30 (Semifinals)
Match 5: Match 1 winner vs. Match 4 winner	Noon
Match 6: Match 2 winner vs. Match 3 winner	Noon
Sunday, May 1 (Finals)
Match 7: Match 5 winner vs. Match 6 winner	Noon

All matches will be played on six courts
 
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