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NEW ORLEANS – The University of South Alabama women's tennis team got three straight-set wins to reach the semifinals of the 2015 Sun Belt Conference Championships with a 4-1 defeat of Texas State Friday morning at the City Park Tennis Center.

The top-seeded Jaguars improve to 19-2 and will face No. 4 seed Louisiana-Monroe tomorrow morning at 8 a.m. The Bobcats, seeded eighth, end their season at 9-7.

The match was played under the ITA shortened format, starting with singles.

"Coming off last weekend, we lost two heart-breaking matches," USA head coach Jaco Keyser said. "To put that behind us and take on a Texas State team that played at a pretty high level today, absorb that and come out with a win, I was very impressed."

South Alabama grabbed a quick 2-0 lead behind wins at Nos. 1 and 6. Sophomore Laura Valkova (Piestany, Slovakia) got the Jags on the board with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Ana Laura Gutierrez on the No. 1 court and sophomore Laura Matuskova (Bratislava, Slovakia) lost just four games at No. 6 in a 6-2, 6-2 defeat of Katy Collins.

"We always talk about putting some scoreboard pressure on, and today it was Laura (Valkova)," Keyser said. "Whoever can get on up on the scoreboard, win matches and build pressure on the rest of the points, that's huge for us. It's huge for any team out there."

"It was important because I could help push my teammates to their wins; it was good for them as well," Valkova said. "I was trying to play offense, I wanted to stay on top of the point. And I was able to compete really hard."

Sophomore Monica Mitta (Fairhope, Ala.) gave USA a 3-0 lead at No. 2 with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Monica Pieratt, but Texas State temporarily staved off elimination on the No. 5 court when Shannon Beckett downed senior Mary Angela Martin (Mobile, Ala.) 6-1, 6-4.

South Alabama clinched the match on the No. 4 court thanks to a late rally by junior Michaela Meszarosova (Bratislava, Slovakia). With the match at one set apiece, Meszarosova was down 5-4 in the third before claiming the last three games to close out Eva Dench 6-3, 0-6, 7-5.

"Michaela is a great competitor," Keyser said. "Sometimes she gets a little distracted along the way, but today she was able to dig in and take on a player who played a really quality match. For her to squeeze that out, that's pretty impressive."

"The first set was pretty easy since she was making a lot of mistakes, but then in the second [set] she calmed down and made more shots. The rallies were pretty even, but I lost it 0-6 which was pretty tough. In the third set she did the same thing, so I was trying to find my rhythm from the first set and hang in there because Emily [Newton] was playing next to me and I wanted to give her a lead."

South Alabama will appear in the semifinals for the third straight season after a three-year absence from 2010-12.

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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