MOBILE, Ala. ? The University of South Alabama women’s tennis team outlasted Southeastern Louisiana (1-1) Wednesday afternoon and picked up its first win of the season with a 4-3 victory at the Bruce David Lubel Memorial Tennis Courts.
USA (1-2) will next head to Gainesville, Fla., to take on second-ranked Florida on Friday at 5 p.m. and then No. 32 Florida International on Saturday at 1 p.m.
South Alabama started off the match by outlasting SELU in double play. The Jag duo of Adriana Solarova and Sylvanie Spanenburg dominated the Lady Lions team of Nina Knavs and Brecla Kovac with an 8-1 victory at the No. 1 position, but Southeastern Louisiana’s Alexsandra Curic and Jana Simurkova evened things up with an 8-3 victory of their own over Rita Frietas and Jelena Krivacevic at the No. 3 spot. The second position match was back and forth contest with neither doubles team able to get more than a one point advantage for most of the set. With the scored tied at 7-7, USA’s Michaela Babicova and Dijana Stanic got the final two points to pick up the 9-7 set victory over Emiliya Arnadouska and Iva Velkovska and give the Jaguar women a 1-0 match lead heading into singles competition.
In singles action, South Alabama stretched its lead out to 2-0 when Spanenberg won in straight sets (6-0, 6-3) over Knavs at the No. 6 position. SELU quickly evened things up at 2-2 in the match when the Belkouska (6-2, 6-3) and Simurkova (6-3, 6-3) picked up straight sets of their own at the Nos. 1 and 4 positions, respectively.
With the match all square, the Lady Lions took their first lead of the day when Kovac defeated USA’s Krivacevic in three sets at the fourth position. Krivacevic took the first set 6-2, but Kovac battled back to take the final two sets 6-3 and 6-0. Stanic knotted the match back up for the Jaguar women when she rallied back to take a three setter of her own (3-6, 6-3, 6-1) over the Lady Lions’ Bonnie Phillips at No. 5.
In the final match of the day, Babicova outlasted SELU’s Velkouska. Velkouska captured the opening set 7-5, but Babicova managed to comeback and take the second set 7-6 (7-2). In the deciding set of the No. 2 match, Babicova gave USA the match victory when the Jag sophomore won 7-5.
Tennis Match Results
Southeastern Louisiana vs University of South Alabama
Feb 07, 2007 at Mobile, Ala.
#74 University of South Alabama 4, #74 Southeastern Louisiana 3
Singles competition
1. Emilija Arnaudovska (SELU) def. Adrianna Solarova (USAW) 6-2, 6-3
2. Michaela Babicova (USAW) def. Iva Velkovska (SELU) 5-7, 7-6 (7-2), 7-5
3. Breda Kovac (SELU) def. Jelena Krivacevic (USAW) 2-6, 6-3, 6-0
4. Jana Simurkova (SELU) def. Yana Bokareva (USAW) 6-3, 6-3
5. Dijana Stanic (USAW) def. Bonnie Phillips (SELU) 3-6, 6-3, 6-1
6. Sylvanie Spanenberg (USAW) def. Nina Knavs (SELU) 6-0, 6-3
Doubles competition
1. Adrianna Solarova/Sylvanie Spanenberg (USAW) def. Nina Knavs/Breda Kovac (SELU) 8-1
2. Dijana Stanic/Michaela Babicova (USAW) def. Emilija Arnaudovska/Iva Velkovska (SELU) 9-7
3. Aleksandra Coric/Jana Simurkova (SELU) def. Rita Freitas/Jelena Krivacevic (USAW) 8-3
Match Notes:
Southeastern Louisiana 1-1; National ranking #74
University of South Alabama 1-2; National ranking #74
Order of finish: Doubles (1,3,2); Singles (6,1,4,3,5,2)
Home opener for South Alabama.
T-4:06 A-45
