LAKE NONA, FL. – Angie Zhou punched her ticket to the NCAA Division III Singles National Championship with her three-set victory over Nika Velsey of Wesleyan (CT) on Sunday morning at the USTA National Campus.

Zhou advances to the Singles National Championship for the second consecutive year after she defeated Vesley 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 in the semifinals. The No. 1 and No. 2 seeds will play for the National Championship tomorrow as Zhou takes on Olivia Soffer of Babson at 10:00 AM.

Zhou came out strong against a very tough opponent in Vesley and took the first few games to build a good lead.  Vesley took a few games in the middle of the set but Zhou finished strong for the 6-2 win.

The two alternated wins early in set two with Vesley taking a 2-3 lead.  Zhou battled back to get to 5-4, but Velsey fought off the comeback attempt in set two and even the match at 1-1. 

Zhou jumped ahead early in set three and took the first three games after breaking Vesley in game two.  Vesley battled back and broke Zhou but neither could hold with the score at 4-3 in favor of Zhou.   Zhou got in a rhythm to close out the third set and took the final three games to place herself back in the NCAA Division III Singles National Championship.