Results

MURFEESBORO, Tenn. – The University of South Alabama women's tennis team fell to Middle Tennessee 4-2 Friday at the Buck Bouldin Tennis Center.
 
DOUBLES
-On court 1, junior Patricia Martins (Lisbon, Portugal) and freshman Milka Pasanen (Pieksamaki, Finland) fell to Kim Kermit and Luisa Zirilli 6-1.
-Junior Alexandria Stiteler (Bradenton, Fla.) and freshman Yu Fujioka (Funabashi, Japan) bounced back with a 6-3 victory over Lee Barnard and Marta Peris Herrero at No. 2.
-Middle Tennessee took the doubles point when Maria Josefina Zehnder and Costanza Magazzani defeated junior Alina Zolotareva (Barnaul, Russia) and freshman Nikola Kohoutova (Kralupy Nad Vltavou, Czech Republic) 6-4 on court 3.
 
SINGLES
-Stiteler, ranked No. 100 by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association, tied the match 1-1 with a 6-4, 7-5 win over Magazzani at No. 1.
-Zirilli took a singles point on court 6 because of an injury to Martins. The score was 6-4, 2-6, 4-1 in Zirilli's favor when the injury happened.
-Zolotareva fell 6-3, 0-6, 6-3 to Zehnder at No. 2, but Fujioka bounced back by defeating Kermit 6-2, 5-7, 6-4 on court 3.
-Lidia Burrows secured victory for MTSU with a 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 win over freshman Maxine Palmen (Sittard, Netherlands) at No. 4.
 
NOTES
-Middle Tennessee improves to 16-7 on the year, while South Alabama drops to 17-3.
-After losing the first 19 matches in the series, MTSU has won six of the last eight meetings.
-Fujioka is undefeated in singles competition this spring with a 19-0 record, and Stiteler improves to 15-2 in singles.
- Fujioka currently holds the school record for dual match win percentage (19-0) and win percentage at the No. 2 flight (12-0).
-In doubles, the team of Stiteler and Fujioka improved to 4-1 this year. Stiteler is 10-3 overall, and Fujioka is 10-5.
-The Jaguars will close out their regular season against Xavier Saturday at 10 a.m. at the Buck Bouldin Tennis Center.
-The two teams have yet to play in school history.
-Xavier is 11-7 on the season, and they are coming off a 4-3 loss to Marquette on Sunday.
-The Sun Belt Conference Championships begin Thursday, April 19 in Peachtree City, Georgia.
 
QUOTES FROM HEAD COACH KEYSER
"This was an extremely tough loss for a multitude of reasons, and I thought we competed hard enough to have a chance to pull this one out. We had a little bit of a slow start in doubles that, with hindsight, caught up with us today. In singles, a combination of too many free points given away and MTSU really executing during crunch time ultimately helped them pick up the win. Although extremely frustrating, despite not being able to get the win, we definitely are giving ourselves the opportunities to be successful. The bottom line is that we are getting very tough matches these last two weekends and if processed correctly, these checkpoints will be invaluable for the next weekend's conference tournament if we stay the course and not doubt ourselves with a 17 3 record."
 
For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com, and follow the Jaguars at www.twitter.com/USAJaguarSports. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).
 
Join the Baseline Club, the tennis-specific support club of the Jaguar Athletic Fund. All donations to the Baseline Club go directly to support the South Alabama men's and women's tennis programs. For more information on how you can join visit: http://jaguarathleticfund.com/baselineclub
 
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