Results

NEW ORLEANS – The University of South Alabama women's tennis team won the final three matches of the day, including freshman Laura Valkova's (Piestany, Slovakia) three-set clincher to put the Jaguars in the finals of the Sun Belt Conference Championships with a 4-3 victory over Texas-Arlington Saturday afternoon at City Park Tennis Center.

The berth in the finals is the first for the program since 2007. USA, seeded third in the tournament, will be attempting to win its first league title since 2003 tomorrow morning at 10 a.m. against top-seeded Georgia State.

Texas-Arlington ends its season at 12-8.

"In the history of South Alabama, we've had a lot bigger wins, but for where we are right now in our growth as a team, this is a humongous win," Jaguar head coach Jaco Keyser said. "It's just so reflective of our team—gritty, never give up—and I can't be more proud of a team I've coached than I am right now.

"We've been a great program for so long, and had a little bit of a dip there for a while, but we built it up from scratch two or three years ago and we need wins like this to validate our progress and try and get back to where we were."

Faced with deficits of 2-0 and 3-1, South Alabama capped off its comeback with Valkova's 6-4, 2-6, 6-1 victory against Giada D'Ortona on the No. 2 court. Freshman Monica Mitta (Fairhope, Ala.) started the rally with a 7-5, 7-5 win at No. 4 and junior Mary Angela Martin (Mobile, Ala.) tied the match at 3-3 when she defeated Jessica Birowski 6-1, 7-5 at No. 5.

"We played them on Sunday (during the regular season), so it was not surprising—they played great in a couple of spots, at No. 1 and No. 3, and got the lead," Keyser said. "I felt comfortable with the rest of the spots. No. 2 is kind of our money spot, so having it come down to her, if we lose that match, what can you do about it?"

The Mavericks grabbed an early 1-0 lead, winning the final two doubles matches at Nos. 2 and 1, and Elizabeth Thoms put UTA up 2-0 with a 6-2, 6-2 defeat of sophomore Michaela Meszarosova (Bratislava, Slovakia) on the No. 1 court.

Sophomore Paula Sanchez (Bogota, Colombia) cut the margin in half with a 6-2, 6-2 win of her own at No. 6 over Verena Scott, but Angeles de los Rios gave the Mavericks a 3-1 advantage, topping junior Emily Newton (Dothan, Ala.) 6-2, 6-2 at No. 3.

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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