Tyler Junior College sophomore Fausthyara Pietersz returns a serve by ASA College freshman Natallia Vavulina in a Flight 1 finals match on Thursday. (Victor Texcucano | Tyler Morning Telegraph)

While East Texas needed the rain, it did cause havoc with the NJCAA Women’s National Tennis Tournament on Thursday.

Weather permitting, singles matches will begin at 8:30 a.m., and doubles will follow at the JoAnn Medlock Murphy Tennis Center on the Tyler Junior College campus. Admission is free.

Only two matches were completed as the drizzle lasted most of the day, but they were key as ASA College of Brooklyn, N.Y., pulled within a point of leader Tyler Junior College in the race for the national championship. TJC, four-time defending national champion, leads with 44 points, while the Avengers are next with 43 points.

ASA netters won national titles in flights 1 (No. 1 seed Natallia Vavulina) and 5 (No. 1 seed Diana Perez). Both wins were against the Apache Ladies.

Vavulina, a freshman from Belarus, scored a 6-1, 6-3 win over Tyler’s Fausthyara “Frosty” Pietersz, the No. 2 seed and a sophomore from Willemstad, Curacao.

Perez, a sophomore from Miami, netted a 6-3, 6-1 victory over TJC’s Paige Murdock, a freshman from Boerne, a city in the Texas Hill Country near San Antonio.

TJC and ASA are head to head in two additional singles matches and all three doubles matches. Each match is worth a point.

Tyler and the Brooklyn school will face off in two singles finals — Flight 3 singles (No. 1 Dayana Agasieva of ASA vs. No. 2 Ashleigh De Wet of TJC); and Flight 4 (No. 1 Kyla Klier of ASA vs. No. 2 Kylie Reynaud of TJC) today.

TJC’s Joanna-Nena Savva, the No. 2 seed, will meet Georgia Perimeter’s Fatyha Berjane, the No. 1 seed, in Flight 2 singles.

The only non-TJC vs. ASA championship is Flight 6 singles as unseeded D’Asha Davis of Georgia Perimeter takes on No. 3 seed Thasi Castiglioni of Florida State College-Jacksonville.

The title could come down to doubles as the two schools face off in all three flights — Flight 1 (No. 1 Pietersz-Savva of TJC vs. No. 3 Daniela Vanko-Vavulina of ASA); Flight 2 (No. 1 Murdock-Reynaud of TJC vs. No. 2 Agasieva- Perez of ASA); and Flight 3 (No. 1 De Wet-Kerry Wiegand of TJC vs. No. 2 Klier-Danielle Winter of ASA).

Tyler is seeking its 18th national championship, while ASA is shooting for its first.

The next national title will also be the 50th in athletics school history.

The Apache Ladies last won five straight national titles from 1998 to 2002.

NET NOTES: A trophy presentation will begin upon the conclusion of all matches. Matchups appearing on Murphy Court 1 can be viewed live and archived at www.njcaatv.com. … TJC won national tennis titles in 1983, 1984, 1987, 1989, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2005, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013. … The men’s tournament begins next week in Plano. The Apaches are the defending national champions and have won 15 national titles.

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NJCAA Women’s National Tennis Tournament

JoAnn Medlock Murphy Tennis Center

Tyler Junior College

Flight 1 Singles

Championship — Natallia Vavulina (1), ASA (N.Y.), def. Fausthyara Pietersz (2), Tyler, 6-1, 6-3.

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Flight 2 Singles

Championship — Fatyha Berjane (1), Georgia Perimeter, vs. Joanna-Nena Savva (2), Tyler, 8:30 a.m.

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Flight 3 Singles

Championship — Dayana Agasieva (1), ASA (N.Y.), vs. Ashleigh De Wet (2), Tyler, 8:30 a.m.

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Flight 4 Singles

Championship — Kyla Klier (1), ASA (N.Y.), vs. Kylie Reynaud (2), Tyler, 8:30 a.m.

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Flight 5 Singles

Championship — Diana Perez (1), ASA (N.Y.), def. Paige Murdock (2), Tyler, 6-3, 6-1.

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Flight 6 Singles

Championship — D’Asha Davis, Georgia Perimeter, vs. Thais Castiglioni (3), Florida State College-Jacksonville, 8:30 a.m.

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Flight 1 Doubles

Championship — Fausthyara Pietersz-Joanna-Neva Savva (1), Tyler, vs. Daniela Vanko-Natallia Vavulina (3), ASA (N.Y.)

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Flight 2 Doubles

Championship — Paige Murdock-Kylie Reynaud (1), Tyler, vs. Dayana Agasieva-Diana Perez (2), ASA (N.Y.)

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Flight 3 Doubles

Championship — Ashleigh De Wet-Kerry Wiegand (1), Tyler, vs. Kyla Klier-Danielle Winter (2), ASA (N.Y.)