HAMMOND, La. — The Bearkats are the Southland Conference regular season champions after cruising past Southeastern Louisiana 6-1 on Sunday at the SLU Tennis Complex.
 
Sam Houston (15-3) led the conference race from start to finish and went 10-1 in league play to clinch the No. 1 seed in the Southland Conference Tournament, which will be held at the Beaumont Municipal Tennis Center April 23-25. This is the first SLC title in the program's history.
 
After the Lions won the doubles point, junior Sahaja Yamalapalli clinched the championship with a 7-6, 6-2 victory over Putri Insani at No. 1 singles to give the Kats their match-sealing fourth point. Yamalapalli capped her regular season with a perfect 11-0 run through conference play and 17-0 overall record.
 
Sophomore Isidora Zivkovic tied the match at 1 with a 6-4, 6-1 victory over Flory Bierma at No. 3 singles, and freshman Andrijana Brkic defeated Ariadna Perez 7-5, 6-3 at the No. 5 spot to give Sam Houston the lead. Freshman Sunskrithi Damera made it 3-1 by rolling past Katya Cornejo at No. 6, 6-2, 6-0.

Freshman Sahithi Vutukuru defeated Ximena Yanez 6-4, 7-5 at No. 4 singles, and junior Karla De La Luz Montalvo put the icing on the cake with a 7-5, 3-6, 6-4 win over Polina Sleptsova at No. 2 singles.

De La Luz Montalvo and sophomore Petra Kaszas won their No. 3 doubles match 6-2.

The Bearkats will face eighth-seed Stephen F. Austin April 23 at 2 p.m. in the opening round of the SLC tournament.