A few months ago we weren’t sure if we were going to get a full season in but we’ve made it to the last day of the dual-match season with a pair of NCAA Championship matches this evening.

The Pepperdine women and Florida men will be seeking their first-ever NCAA National Championship while the Texas women will be seeking title No. 3 and the Baylor men will be trying to win title No. 2.

Without further ado here are the breakdowns on each of the finals:

Friday’s semifinals brought us some close matches and some not so close matches but there was no bigger story than what happened in the matchup between No. 1 North Carolina and No. 5 Pepperdine.

The undefeated and top ranked Tar Heels entered the match seeking a second-ever trip the finals and since it hadn’t dropped more than two singles matches in any dual all season it had to like its chances. However it’d be the Waves from Pepperdine that would crush UNC’s dream season with a thrilling 4-3 win in a match that took just over 3 hours to complete.

Pepperdine knew going in that it really needed to have the doubles point to put itself in a position to pull off the upset and a few early breaks put the Waves in good position to do so.

Pepperdine’s Anastasia Iamachkine and Jessica Failla jumped out to a 3-1 lead at No. 3 doubles and they’d extend their lead to 5-2. Failla served for the match and had a pair of match points however UNC’s Alle Sanford and Reilly Tran broke on the deciding point and then Sanford held from 40/15 to make it 5-4. With the pressure on Anastasia Iamachkine would calmly serve it out at love to give Pepperdine the 6-4 win.

For the second day in a row Barry University claimed a Division II National Championship with the women’s team winning a fourth consecutive title with a 4-0 win over top-ranked Indianapolis.

UIndy came into the match with a perfect 23-0 record and were a perfect 23-0 in the doubles point but the day ended with both of the L columns having a 1 in its place.

Barry, which came into the match with a 14-0 record (13-0 in doubles), picked up the first victory in doubles when Kim Moosbacher and Daniela Farfan ran their dual-match record to 10-0 with a 6-3 win at No. 3. Moosbacher and Farfan jumped out to an early 3-0 lead and never looked back from there.

UIndy served for the match at No. 2 doubles but Kristina Lagoda and Alina Kislitskaya would be unable to close it out as BU’s Jil Engelmann and Julie Razafindranaly broke for 5-5.

The match at No. 1 went back and forth while the biggest swing came when BU’s Madeline Bosnjak and Deniz Khazan broke the ITA No. 1 ranked doubles team of Nikol Alekseeva and Anna Novikova to go up 5-4. Barry served it out from 40/30 to clinch the doubles point with a 6-4 win.

The top two teams met in the NCAA Division II Men’s Championship match for the third year in a row and for the second consecutive season, and fifth time overall, it was the Barry Buccaneers that were lifting the hardware after a closer than the score indicates 4-1 win.

Columbus State entered the match with a perfect 23-0 record and had yet to lose the doubles point but that all changed after about 35 minutes. The Cougars top ranked doubles team of Alvaro Regalado and Javier Cueto Ramos cruised to a 6-0 win at the top spot but Barry’s Alessandro Giuliato and Tim Buttner countered at No 2 with a 6-1 win. The doubles point was decided at No. 3 and it’d be Barry’s Arnau Rodriguez and Alejandro Gallego getting the late break to win it 6-4.

Columbus State came back in singles and took opening sets on the top four courts while Barry took sets on 5 and 6.

Barry’s Ignasi Forcano (8-1) puts the Bucs ahead 2-0 with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Felix Steen (12-2) at No. 5 but a short while later CSU got on the board with a 6-3, 6-4 win by Tommaso Schold (20-1) over Alejandro Gallego (6-2) at No. 3.

Barry’s Tim Buttner (8-1) made it 3-1 after handing Justin Welz (12-1) his first loss of the season with a 6-2, 7-5 win at No. 6.

CSU had a chance to pull within 3-2 but #2 Alvaro Regalado (13-1) was unable to serve it out at No. 1 after leading 6-3, 5-3 against #1 Alessandro Giuliato (11-1). The matchup between the ITA’s top two ranked singles players ended up going to a third set after Giuliato won the final four games, including a hold from 40/30 at 6-5, to take it 7-5.

For the fourth season in a row Barry will play for the NCAA Division II Women’s Final while the Bucs opponent, top-ranked Indianapolis, is in the final for the first time in school history.

Barry has won the title in each of the last three seasons with a win over West Florida in 2018 and a pair over Lynn in 2017 and 2019.

UIndy’s path to the finals hasn’t been as smooth as Barry’s but the Greyhounds have managed to navigate each match to reach the final day of the season.

UIndy opened up play in Surprise, AZ, in the quarterfinals with a tough 4-2 win over No. 30 St. Mary’s TX. The Greyhounds picked up the doubles point with wins on 1 and 3 and then in singles they claimed four opening sets. The top three singles spots were the first to finish with UIndy’s Nikol Alekseeva and Alina Kislitskaya winning in straight sets at 1 and 3 while STMU’s Maria Garcia won in straight set at 2. Alice Thane pulled the Rattlers to within 3-2 with a 6-3, 7-6 win at No. 6 but Kristina Lagoda would get the clincher for UIndy with a 6-3, 2-6, 6-3 win at No. 4. The match at No. 5 went unfinished with UIndy in the lead.

In the semifinals versus No. 10 Columbus State, UIndy maintained its perfect 23 for 23 mark in doubles play with wins at 1 and 2. Just as it had done in the quarterfinals, UIndy claimed four opening sets and its path to victory was also very similar as well. Nikol Alekseeva and Alina Kislitskaya won in straight sets at 1 and 3 for UIndy while Mariia Solnyshkina won in straight sets at 5. Columbus State Valentina Abrile won in straight sets at 4 to give the Cougars its lone point. The other two unfinished matches were close with CSU leading on 6 while UIndy held a slight lead on 2.

Just four teams remain in the women’s and men’s draw with Texas the only one that can pull off the double. The Friday weather forecast calls for temps in the low 80s with winds close to 20 miles per hour but it’s been windy for the last few days so all the teams should be pretty used to that by this point.

North Carolina and Texas have each made it to the women’s final before while both Pepperdine and NC State are making history with each passing round.

The Texas men are shooting for a second consecutive finals appearance while Tennessee and Baylor are trying to get back to the final day for the first time since 2010 and 2005 respectively. Florida is playing in the semifinals for the fourth time with the Gators 0-3 in their previous three appearances.

Since the start of the Round of 16 last weekend, the team winning the doubles point is 12-0 on the women’s side and 9-3 on the men’s side.

I’ve got all the numbers and stats down below so look them over and decide who you think will move on to the NCAA Championship Final.