Box Score

MOBILE, Ala. – University of South Alabama’s Jess Courtnell (Newcastle, England) and Chané Hines (Johannesburg, South Africa) won the final two singles matches to rally the Jaguars 4-3 over No. 6 seed Florida Atlantic in the first round of the Sun Belt Conference Women’s Tennis Championships Thursday morning at the Bruce David Lubel Memorial Tennis Courts.

USA, the No. 11 seed, improves to 3-12 on the season and advances to the quarterfinals to face No. 3 seed Louisiana at Lafayette Friday at 9 a.m. Florida Atlantic ends its season at 13-11.

“This validates the girls’ fight and their attitude during the tough times in the last year and a half,” said USA head coach Jaco Keyser. “It’s nice for them to get a win. They kicked us around pretty good in Florida, and like I said yesterday, it’s a good opportunity to measure our improvement.

“The tough part is, tomorrow and the next day, to follow this up,” he continued. “Follow up the good attitude and the good fight and create the culture we’re looking for.”

Hines forced a tiebreaker in the second set before prevailing 6-1, 7-6 (7-2) over Cassie Bergeson to tie the match at 3-3 moments before Courtnell fended off a game-point from Natasha Basma to win 6-4, 6-4.

After a 1-12 start to the season, Courtnell has won her last three outings, all in straight sets.

“It’s nice for Jess because sometimes she does get down on herself, but it felt like she grew up a lot today,” said Keyser. “With Chané I’m not surprised. She’s such a fighter and she’s always mentally engaged. Once we get three, four, five people doing that, then we create the environment we’re looking for.”

The Jaguars won the doubles point on the strength of wins from Hines and senior Katie Welch (Mobile, Ala.) at No. 1 and Courtnell and junior Alina Volman (Lugansk, Ukraine) at No. 2. Hines and Welch jumped out to a 5-0 advantage and cruised 8-2. Volman and Courtnell won the first three games but allowed FAU’s team of Virginia Augustin and Erika Mrazkova to tie the score at 3-3. Volman and Courtnell earned the next two games and finished off the Owls 8-5.

“I’ve felt good about our doubles for most of the season,” said Keyser. “We might be playing a spot or two too high but we’ve improved—you might not see it in the results—but the quality of play and execution has improved. Some of it showed up today.”

FAU whitewashed USA at No. 5 and No. 6 singles to take the lead 2-1. Welch defeated Marlene Ryan 6-3, 6-1 at No. 1 to tie the match but Justine Humair defeated Volman in straight sets 6-2, 6-4 to get the Owls one step closer to clinching the match, 3-2.

After winning the first set 6-1, Hines found herself down 4-2 in the second, and later, served down 6-5. Bergeson had three set points at love-40 but Hines battled back to get to deuce and staved off another set point before finally winning to force a tiebreaker. Hines’ 7-2 victory got the Jags even at 3-3.

Less than a minute later, Courtnell finished off Basma, claiming the win on a double-fault.

For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com.  Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).

—USA—