MONROE, La. ? The second-seeded South Alabama women’s tennis team dropped a heartbreaking 4-3 decision to third-seeded Florida International Saturday evening in the semifinal round held at the Heard Tennis Courts on the Louisiana-Monroe campus.

USA (18-5) will now faced Louisiana-Lafayette on Sunday in the Consolation match of the tournament, slated to begin at 10 a.m.  With the win, Florida International (13-8) advances to the championship match to take on top-seeded Denver at 10 a.m. on Sunday.

South Alabama held the early advantage after the doubles portion of the match after the Jags picked up wins from Michaela Babicova/Katie Welch at No. 2 (8-2) and Erica Krisan/Jelena Krivacevic at No. 3 (8-4) to go up 1-0.

In singles action, FIU quickly rebounded and captured straight-set wins at the Nos. 1, 2 and 4 spots from Egle Petrauskaite (6-3, 6-2), Liset Brito (6-1, 7-5) and Priscilla Castillo (6-0, 6-2), respectively, to sit just one point away from the match victory at 3-1.  USA’s Sylvanie Spangenberg pulled the Jags to within one with a straight set win of her own at No. 5 (6-2, 7-5) and Krisan then tied the match back up at 3-3 with a two-set win of her own at No. 3 (6-1, 6-4).

In the deciding singles contest of the match, USA’s Krivacevic and FIU’s Maria Spencely battled at No. 6 in a thrilling marathon match.  Spencely outlasted Krivacevic 7-6 and 8-6 in the tiebreaker to gain the victory in the first set, but the Jag senior evened things up in the second set with a 7-6 (7-5) win of her own.  As the previous two sets had gone, Krivacevic and Spencely battled back and fourth with Spencely finally gaining the 7-6 (7-4) third set victory to give the Golden Panthers the match.

No. 51 Florida International 4, No. 45 University of South Alabama 3

Apr 19, 2008 at Monroe, La.

 Singles competition

1. Egle Petrauskaite (FIU) def. Adrianna Solarova (USAW) 6-3, 6-2

2. Liset Brito (FIU) def. Michaela Babicova (USAW) 6-1, 7-5

3. Erica Krisan (USAW) def. Marijana Cutuk (FIU) 6-1, 6-4

4. Priscilla Castillo (FIU) def. Katie Welch (USAW) 6-0, 6-2

5. Sylvanie Spangenberg (USAW) def. Maria Dolores Pazo (FIU) 6-2, 7-5

6. Maria Spenceley (FIU) def. Jelena Krivacevic (USAW) 7-6 (8-6), 6-7 (5-7), 7-6 (7-4)

 Doubles competition

1. Liset Brito/Egle Petrauskaite (FIU) vs. Adrianna Solarova/Sylvanie Spangenberg (USAW) 7-5, unfinished

2. Michaela Babicova/Katie Welch (USAW) def. Priscilla Castillo/Maria Spenceley (FIU) 8-2

3. Erica Krisan/Jelena Krivacevic (USAW) def. Maria Dolores Pazo/Maria José Vallascia (FIU) 8-4

Match Notes:

University of South Alabama 18-5; National ranking #45

Florida International 13-8; National ranking #51

Order of finish: Doubles (2,3); Singles (4,2,1,5,3,6)