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Tennis

Santos Selected for NCAA Women’s Tennis Championships

NCAA Release

NCAA Release

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – Mizzou Tennis junior Bea Machado Santos (Lisbon, Portugal) has been selected to compete in the singles portion of the 2016 NCAA Division I Women's Tennis Championships, announced by the organization on Wednesday. Santos is the first Mizzou player to qualify for the NCAA Tournament since Urska Juric, who competed in the singles and doubles tournament (with Katka Sevcikova) in 2003.

The Tournament will take place May 19-30 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, at the Case Tennis Center. Singles competition is slated to begin May 25 following the conclusion of the team championship.

This season, Santos has posted a 21-16 mark in singles play, including a 14-9 mark at the No. 1 position during dual competition. The Tiger junior has been ranked as high as No. 53 in the ITA Collegiate Tennis Singles Rankings poll and posted five SEC wins, a team-high.

The Portugal native has six wins over opponents currently ranked in the ITA Top-125, including a win over two-time SEC Player of the Year Brooke Austin (Florida), currently ranked No. 3 in the nation, on March 5. The loss was Austin's only SEC loss of the dual season in singles play. Santos also owns wins over Andie Dikosavlijevic (Auburn, No. 20), Arianne Hartono (Ole Miss, No. 33), Sadie Hammond (Tennessee, No. 51), Justina Mikulskyte (Kentucky, No. 79) and Allison Miller (Notre Dame, No. 115).

Santos played a vital role in Mizzou Tennis' best season in over a decade, where the Tigers reached 16 wins, the most wins for the program since 2004-05. Mizzou also matched its best start in program history when the Tigers began the season 7-0, tying the 2002-03 mark.

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