Complete Results

LAFAYETTE, La. – North Texas’ Barbora Vykydalova outlasted sophomore Mariya Krachok (Kiev, Ukraine) in three sets to pick up the decisive point and help the Mean Green defeat the University of South Alabama women’s tennis team 4-3 Saturday morning in the semifinals of the Sun Belt Conference Championships hosted by Louisiana at Lafayette.

No. 1 seed NT (17-5) will play No. 2 seed Georgia State in the finals Sunday at 10 a.m. USA, seeded fourth, ends its season at 16-10. The 16 wins are the most by the program since 2008.

“That was a great college match today,” Jaguar head coach Jaco Keyser said. “Credit to North Texas for playing a high-quality match and fending off the upset. I'm extremely proud of the way we competed today. From an identity standpoint that is exactly what I want for the program.

“All in all, it's a gut-wrenching loss because I thought we deserved to win, but hopefully we will use this loss as motivation to put the work in that is required in order to turn the corner.”

USA sophomore Mary Angela Martin (Mobile, Ala.) tied the match at 3-3 with a 6-3, 7-6 (7-5) win on the No. 5 court, leaving the fate of the match in the hands of Vykydalova and Krachok. Vykydalova took the first set 6-3 before Krachok evened the match at a set apiece, 6-2. Up 5-4 in the third, Vykydalova broke Krachok to take the match 6-3, 2-6, 6-4.

“In singles I thought we played good enough to win but North Texas found a way to hold us off,” Keyser stated.

North Texas won the doubles point with a pair of 8-4 victories at Nos. 1 and 3, but South Alabama took the first two singles matches on courts 3 and 6 to take a 2-1 advantage. Sophomore Emily Newton (Dothan, Ala.) dropped just four games against Valentina Starkova in a 6-3, 6-1 win and freshman Cinta Maria Papke (Flein, Germany) followed with a 6-3, 6-4 defeat of Agustina Valenzuela.

The Mean Green answered with back-to-back victories to retake the lead. Franziska Sprinkmeyer took sophomore Ramona Ghermani (Bad Wimpfen, Germany) 6-3, 6-4 on court 4 to even the match at 2-2. Kseniya Bardabush needed three sets to get past freshman Michaela Meszarosova (Bratislava, Slovakia) 6-0, 3-6, 6-2.

“I'm glad that we are once again top three in the conference and that's important for a young team to somewhat measure their growth,” Keyser said. “Having said that, our goal is not to come in third in the conference. The goal is to win the conference and be a top 30 program in the nation. We will have to take a few days to digest this one and figure out the steps we have to take to reach our goals.”

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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