Box Score Kearney, Neb. – The 13th-ranked Southwest Baptist Bearcats got out to an early to beat 49th-ranked Nebraska-Kearney, 5-2, in an MIAA Tournament quarterfinal dual Monday night in Lincoln.

UNK is hosting the three-day single elimination tournament at UNL's Dillon Tennis Center. On Monday, four women's quarterfinal matches were held. The men's and women's semifinals are Tuesday with finals slated for Wednesday.

With today's win, third-seeded SBU improves to 14-3 and will face second-seed and No. 8 Central Oklahoma in one semifinal match tomorrow night The sixth-seeded Lopers fall to 15-6 and now await its NCAA Tournament fate. Six teams from the Central Region make the 48-team NCAA field; UNK was ranked sixth in the region last week. The field will be revealed on Tuesday, April 24, at 7 p.m. Central

Back on April 7 in Grand Island, UNK closed out its regular season with an 8-1 setback to the SBU Bearcats. However, this time around, nationally-ranked Ana Royo (Spain) was in the Loper lineup. The sophomore had appeared in just one match since sustaining an injury in early February. Her return tonight shifted both the UNK doubles and singles order.

In doubles, SBU won 8-0 in the top spot to grab a 1-0 lead but junior Camryn Parnell (Lee's Summit, Mo.) and senior Emma Neil (Papillion) rolled at number three, 8-3, to knot things up. The pair are now 3-0 in the spring as Parnell has also missed time due to injury.

At number two doubles, the 'Cats managed an 8-4 win and then grabbed a 4-1 lead thanks to straight set wins at number one (6-3, 6-2) and two (6-4, 6-1) singles.UNK stayed alive when Spanish senior Amanda Alvarez won a back and forth third set to best Lucia Diaz at number three (4-6, 6-1, 7-5). During the regular season, Alvarez also edged Diaz in three sets.

The Lopers were poised to collect another point as junior Sherry Sun was up 6-2, 4-3 at number four but Sarah Brown got by Neil at number five (6-4, 6-2) to tally the clinching point for SBU. Finally, freshman Claire Neil (Papillion) had barely started her number six singles match with Beatrix Federer (0-1).

On the men's side, UNK faces Washburn Tuesday at 8 a.m. The Lopers beat the Ichabods, 7-2, during the regular season but the match was closer than the final score indicates.