NORFOLK, Va. -- To be honest, Phatsimo Ruele hates it when everybody's looking at her.
No choice , though. With another 4-3 quarterfinal loss looming over Bethune-Cookman at the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference tournament, the sophomore from Botswana delivered the deciding fourth points in the Lady Wildcats' 4-3 victory over Howard Thursday at the Folkes-Stevens Center on the campus of Old Dominion University.
Ruele' 6-4,2-6,6-1 victory over Sajela Harlow at No. 5 singles lifted the Lady Wildcats (9-7) to a semifinal showdown with Hampton, a 4-0 winner over North Carolina A&T, Friday at 9 a.m.
Howard (7-10) led 3-2, but Matea Roki tied the match with her win at No. 1 singles to set the stage for Ruele, who had just dropped the second set of her match.
No problem. She won the first five games of the third set as everyone looked on.
"It was a little overwhelming at first," admitted Ruele, now 6-8 on the year after an 0-4 start. " I came through, though, and it feels great. I thought I played pretty smart and got my opponent to make mistakes."
It's the second straight year Ruele has come up big at the conference tournament. Her somewhat surprising victory kept B-CU's shorthanded hopes alive before Morgan State won a gut-wrenching 4-3 decision.
"Phatsimo played with a lot of determination. I was pleased with that," said B-CU Head Coach Val Villucci, who registered her first MEAC victory. "She changed her game style and beat her opponent by taking her out of her game."
Things started very promising for Bethune-Cookman. The doubles tandems of Roki/Rehaana Butt and Karen Romero/Alejandra Vidal each made quick work of their respective opponents to secure the doubles point and tie the match at 1-1.
Roki was cruising to a 6-0 first set win and Vidal, normally the grinder, played like she didn't want to be the last person the court and was in control of her match.
Then the Bison had their run, taking the No. 2 and No. 4 singles points. Roki then rallied to a force a tiebreaker -- recovering from a nasty tumble along the way -- and won that to make it a 3-3 match.
"It's the MEAC championships, there's going to be some drama," Villucci said. You have to expect bump in the roads. We know, we've experience, we know how to respond."
NOTES: Vidal is now 11-1 and Roki 6-2 all-time in MEAC tournament play with their two Friday victories… The Lady Wildcats clinched their first winning season since 2016 … Ruele improved to 2-1 in 3-set matches this year ...B-CU now 3-0 in 4-3 games this season.
