Results

NEW ORLEANS – After grabbing a 3-0 lead, the University of South Alabama women's tennis team saw it shrink to 3-2 but got a straight-sets win from junior Mary Angela Martin (Mobile, Ala.) to defeat Louisiana-Monroe 4-2 in the quarterfinals of the Sun Belt Conference Championships Friday afternoon at City Park Tennis Center.

The third-seeded Jaguars, now 15-2 on the season, move on to face No. 2 seed Texas-Arlington Saturday at 10 a.m. The Warhawks finish with an 8-10 record.

"It was a rough, physical match today," USA head coach Jaco Keyser said. "I thought we controlled majority of the match from start to finish. You have to give credit to Louisiana-Monroe for playing a pretty high-level match, especially in the top half of the singles and making things very uncomfortable towards the end."

The Jags easily swept through doubles, winning 8-1 at flights 2 and 3 to take a 1-0 lead.

In singles, freshman Monica Mitta (Fairhope, Ala.) blanked Sandy Lochu 6-0, 6-0 at No. 4, and sophomore Paula Sanchez (Bogota, Colombia) dropped just three games in a 6-3, 6-0 victory over Marnelle Boshoff at No. 6 for a 3-0 advantage.

ULM took the next two matches to cut the margin to 3-2. Medy Blankvoort defeated sophomore Michaela Meszarosova (Bratislava, Slovakia) 6-1, 6-4 on the No. 1 court, and Petra Horakova downed junior Emily Newton (Dothan, Ala.) 6-3, 7-5 at No. 3.

However, Martin put an end to the comeback, using a second-set tiebreaker to win 6-2, 7-6 (7-1) over Angela Tejedor at No. 5.

"It was typical postseason play," Keyser said. "At No. 5 we're up 6-2, 5-2, dropped four or five match points and don't convert. All of a sudden, you're involved in a match. If anyone's going to play that last match, it's going to be Mary Angela Martin. She's won about 90 percent of her matches in three years so we feel comfortable with her down there."

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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