Results
MOBILE, Ala. – University of South Alabama freshman Mariya Krachok (Kiev, Ukraine) earned her ninth straight win this spring to give the USA women’s tennis team a 4-3 victory over Sun Belt opponent Arkansas State Saturday at the Bruce David Lubel Memorial Tennis Courts.
South Alabama improved to 13-4 overall, while Arkansas State drops to 9-7 in their spring campaign.
“As we’re busy rebuilding, these kind of wins are crucial for us,” said USA head coach Jaco Keyser. “With all of the leads we blew today, nine out of 10 teams would have folded, but it’s another win. I think we learned a lot today in regards to momentum swings. The bottom line is, we might play some dumb tennis sometimes but this team has a lot of fight and character in them. I hope we can keep building on that.”
Krachok rallied from a first-set loss to outlast Ceara Howey 5-7, 7-5, 6-4 on the No. 6 court to clinch the win for the Jaguars.
“That was a great match,” said Keyser. “She didn’t play great tennis; it probably should have been a straight-set win. It’s easy to talk about winning matches easily but when you get in those three-set marathons, where nerves come in and the team match depends on it, to step up and get those wins are important for her personal growth as a player, and more importantly, for us as a team.”
Sophomore Emily Newton (Dothan, Ala.) whitewashed her opponent Biljana Miloshevska 6-0, 6-0 at the No. 4 flight giving the Jaguars a 2-0 lead.
Tamara Slijepcevic picked up the first point for the Red Wolves when she dropped freshman Ramona Ghermani (Bad Wimpfen, Germany) 6-1, 6-0 at No. 2.
Freshman Mary Angela Martin (Mobile, Ala.) downed Ioana Teu 6-2, 6-2 at the No. 5 spot making the score 3-1.
The Red Wolves tied the match 3-3 with wins on the No. 1 and No. 3 courts. Mariana Rong defeated senior Alina Volman (Lugansk, Ukraine) 6-4, 6-2 on the No. 1 court. Janie Nowland rallied from behind to take the 1-6, 7-5, 6-2 win at No. 3 over senior Chané Hines (Johannesburg, South Africa).
In doubles action, Krachok and Newton defeated Jess Heeps-Eriksen and Slijepcevic 8-3 at the No. 3 spot. After being down 5-0, Nowland and Howey came back to win 9-8 (7-4) over Ghermani and Martin on the No. 2 court to tie the Jaguars 1-1.
Hines and Volman topped Rong and Teu 8-5 at No. 1 to secure the doubles point for South Alabama.
“We did some great stuff in doubles. We got up 5-1 at No. 1, 5-0 at No. 2 and 5-0 at No. 3 and ended up doing some bad things. My job as a coach is to try and fix that but I liked the way we hung in there when momentum swings were against us.”
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).
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