MUFREESBORO, Tenn. ? University of South Alabama women’s tennis player Michaela Babicova won her 21st singles match of the season Sunday afternoon to clinch a 4-3 victory for the Jags over No. 59 Indiana State at the Buck Bouldin Tennis Center on the campus of Middle Tennessee State University.
With the win, USA improves to 9-7 on the season and wins their fifth match in its last six contests. ISU falls to 7-6 on the season with the loss. The Jaguar women, ranked 49th by the ITA, will take on Middle Tennessee on Monday at 11 a.m. before returning home.
In what proved to be the key point in the match, South Alabama came out and quickly went up 1-0 in the match when they swept all three doubles matches to secure the point. The Jag doubles team of Dijana Stanic and Babicova picked up an 8-2 victory over Ariane Masschelein and Kelly Hamm of ISU at No. 3 and the USA duos of Adrianna Solarova/Sylvanie Spangenberg and Jelena Krivacevic/Rita Freitas each captured an 8-5 victory at the Nos. 1 and 2 positions to complete the sweep.
Spangenberg stretched the Jaguar advantage out to 2-0 with a straight set victory (6-1, 6-2) over Hamm at the sixth spot, but the Sycamores came right back and knotted the match up at 2-2 with straight set victories of their own at the Nos. 4 and 3 positions, respectively. Stanic, playing at the No. 5 spot, later put the Jaguar women one point away from the match victory with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Fadzai Masiyazi (ISU) and then Babicova clinched the win for South Alabama with a three-set win at No. 2. Babicova dropped the first set 6-3, but battled back to take the final two sets 6-3, 6-3 and seal the victory for USA. The win for Babicova was her seventh straight singles win.
ISU’s Jennifer Magin defeated her third straight ranked opponent to close out the match when she defeated USA’s Solarova, ranked No. 47, 4-6, 7-6, 6-4 at No. 1.
#49 University of South Alabama 4, #59 Indiana State 3
Singles competition
1. Jennifer Migan (ISU) def. #47 Adrianna Solarova (USAW) 4-6, 7-6, 6-4
2. #112 Michaela Babicova (USAW) def. Ariane Masschelein (ISU) 3-6, 6-3, 6-3
3. Sarah Galparoli (ISU) def. Yana Bokareva (USAW) 6-4, 6-4
4. Joanne Schickerling (ISU) def. Jelena Krivacevic (USAW) 6-2, 6-1
5. Dijana Stanic (USAW) def. Fadzai Masiyazi (ISU) 6-4, 6-2
6. Sylvanie Spangenberg (USAW) def. Kelly Hamm (ISU) 6-1, 6-2
Doubles competition
1. Adrianna Solarova/Sylvanie Spangenberg (USAW) def. Jennifer Migan/Joanne Schickerling (ISU) 8-5
2. Jelena Krivacevic/Rita Freitas (USAW) def. Sarah Galparoli/Fadzai Masiyazi (ISU) 8-5
3. Dijana Stanic/Michaela Babicova (USAW) def. Ariane Masschelein/Kelly Hamm (ISU) 8-2
Match Notes:
Indiana State 7-6; National ranking #59
University of South Alabama 9-7; National ranking #49
Order of finish: Doubles (3,2,1); Singles (6,4,3,5,2,1)
