VERMILLION, S.D. – South Dakota women's tennis is looking to write a new chapter into program history when the Summit League Tournament begins Friday at Koch Family Tennis Center in Omaha.
 
The Coyotes, who have reached double figures in dual wins for just the third time in the last eight seasons, are the third seed and will face second-seeded Oral Roberts (12-9) in the semifinals at 9 a.m. on Friday.
 
South Dakota (10-11) dropped a close 4-3 contest on the road in Tulsa earlier this season. It was one of just four matches the team played outside all season.
 
"We're excited, we lost 4-3 down at ORU, outdoors, didn't have a ton of prep outside," coach Brett Barnett said. "We had a chance to win that match. We know going in everything has been a must win the last three weeks in order to have a chance to play for a championship.
 
"It starts Friday, we know we can't win the championship Friday, but we can certainly lose it."
 
The Coyotes have been paced all season by the fifth-year senior duo of Habiba Aly and Jana Lazarevic, both All-Summit League honorees. The pair came back for the extra year granted by COVID-19 outbreak, specifically for this weekend.
 
Aly and Lazarevic are the only members of the current team that have played in a Summit League tournament championship match, falling to Denver in 2018. South Dakota has lost in the semifinals in each of its last two league tourney appearances.
 
"That's one of the motivators, especially for Jana and I," said Aly, named the Summit League Player of the Year on Thursday. "We have a lot of seniors (five) as well, we always said we have to make it before we leave. We stayed maybe the longest in the program, were going to make it and we talked about it to everybody.
 
"We're here not just as a sport to balance the female to male ratio, we're going after the rings (title) because we can."
 
Aly, from Cairo, Egypt, went 6-1 at No. 1 singles, falling only to Oral Roberts' Oleksandra Nahurska in a tough three-set match and the two will battle again on Friday.
 
Lazarevic, from Belgrade, Serbia, posted a 5-1 mark at No. 2 singles and is 8-2 at that spot this season.
 
The Coyotes have also received singles contributions from Estella Jaeger, Bea Havlickova, Natka Kmoskova, Anna Marija Bukina and Eesha Varma.
 
South Dakota has also battled through a rash of injuries throughout the season, evening going through a dual with only five healthy players.
 
"We're going there with a lot of confidence, we know we can do it," said Aly. "We went from points where we didn't have enough bodies to fill the lineup to wining and being third going into the tournament.
 
"Now were here and everybody on the team has been waiting to come back from the tournament on Saturday (with the win)."
 
The championship match will begin at Noon on Saturday.