Ball State 4, Toledo 1
Boxscore
MUNCIE, Ind. -- Behind the 2023 Mid-American Conference Freshman of the Year, Annika Planinsek three-set thriller at the No. 5 singles position, the Ball State women's tennis team won the 2023 MAC Tournament championship for the third time in program history Sunday afternoon. 
 
The Cardinals', who won the tournament title last season, pulled off the 4-1 upset over the top-seeded Toledo Rockets at the Northwest YMCA. 

Ball State quickly took a 1-0 advantage over the Rockets to start today's contest after winning the doubles point. Jessica Braun alongside partner Emily Desai were the first to exit the court after posting a 6-1 victory versus Toledo's No. 3 duo of Cassie Alcala and Laura Morera. After that, Ball State's top court tandem of Amy Kaplan and Planinsek clinched the point for Ball State with their 6-3 defeat over Sloane Teske and Mariona Perez Noguera. 
 
At first singles play was being dominated by the Cardinals as Ball State took four of the six first sets from the Rockets. Polishchuk won by a score of 6-3, 6-3 at No. 1 singles to put BSU up 2-0 in the match. 
 
Toledo then made it 2-1 after taking court No. 2 from the Cardinals. Shortly after, Elena Malykh pushed Ball State's cushion to 3-1 winning both frames, 6-2 over Toledo's No. 6 singles player, Julia Kuszynski. 
 
Three courts remained and they were all in third sets with Toledo leading on courts No. 3 and No. 4. The weight of the crown relied on Planinsek who was up 4-1 in the third against Sanjana Tallamraju. Planinsek would go onto to win , 6-1 for match point. 
 
Ball State improved to 22-3 and earned the MAC's automatic berth in the NCAA Championships for the fourth time in program history. The team will learn its first-round opponent Monday, May 1 at 6 pm ET, which will be streamed live on NCAA.com.

All-Tournament Team 
Mariya Polishchuk (Ball State) -- MVP
Annika Planinsek (Ball State)
Catherine Denysiewikz (Miami)
Shalini Tallamraju (Toledo)
Mariana Perez (Toledo)