Results
DENTON, Texas – The 67th-ranked North Texas women's team won the doubles point in a tiebreaker then won three of the first four singles matches to defeat the University of South Alabama 4-1 Saturday afternoon at the Waranch Tennis Complex.
The loss snaps a six-match win streak for the Jaguars who fall to 14-2 on the season. The Mean Green improve to 10-10 and increase their win streak over the Jags to six.
"Today was a frustrating loss because for a majority of the match, I thought we controlled until it came to the end result," USA head coach
Jaco Keyser said. "I give credit to North Texas for somehow finding a way to win the doubles point after being down 7-5 at No. 3 and then winning a great majority of the big points and 50/50 battles in singles."
North Texas struck first in doubles with an 8-3 win at No. 1 but USA freshmen
Laura Valkova (Piestany, Slovakia) and
Monica Mitta (Fairhope, Ala.) remained undefeated on the season at No. 2 with their 14th consecutive victory, 8-5 over
Anastasiya Shestakova and
Alexis Thoma.
The doubles point came down to the No. 3 court where
Dane Joubert and
Agustina Valenzuela outlasted freshman Laura Matuskova (Bratislava, Slovakia) and sophomore Paula Sanchez (Bogota, Colombia) 8-7 (7-1).
NT won two of the first three singles matches in straight sets to take a 3-1 lead. Valenzuela defeated junior
Emily Newton 6-4, 6-3 on the No. 3 court, and after Mitta closed the gap with a 6-0, 6-4 victory at No. 4,
Franziska Sprinkmeyer knocked off junior
Mary Angela Martin (Mobile, Ala.) 7-5, 6-2.
Kseniya Bardabush took sophomore
Michaela Meszarosova (Bratislava, Slovakia) in three sets 6-4, 0-6, 6-0 to finish off the win.
"I thought we played solidly and competed at a good level," Keyser said. "If we can repeat today's effort, clean up our fundamentals slightly and win some of the one-on-one battles that occur within the matches, we should be able to give ourselves an opportunity for a quality win tomorrow."
The Jags close out the regular season Sunday against Texas-Arlington at 10 a.m.
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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