Results

MOBILE, Ala. – The No. 41 University of South Alabama women's tennis team rallied to win the doubles point and took the top three flights in straight sets to defeat North Florida 6-1 Sunday afternoon at the Bruce David Lubel Memorial Tennis Courts.

The Jaguars dropped just two points in sweeping a three-match homestand and are now 13-4 on the season. The Ospreys fall to 4-5.

"That's a great win for us," USA head coach Jaco Keyser said. "That's a good team – they're always a good team – and especially when you take into consideration that we didn't have the best ball-striking day, by any means. But that's about as high of a level as you can compete, and I just think we played the points really well, even if our ball-striking wasn't there."

South Alabama quickly clinched the match, losing a total of 15 games – no more than four in a set – on courts 1-3. Freshman Alexandria Stiteler (Bradenton, Fla.) doubled the Jags' lead at No. 1, finishing off Noemi Hemmerick 6-3, 6-1.

Junior Monica Mitta (Fairhope, Ala.) downed Rafaela Gomez 6-1, 6-3 on court 3, and junior Laura Valkova (Piestany, Slovakia) dispatched Michelle Valdez 6-3, 6-4 at No. 2 to secure the match.

"We spoke after doubles and they came out focused, especially on the top part of the lineup," Keyser stated. "It put some scoreboard pressure on them. The top of our lineup is good and it's nice to see it show up against a good team like North Florida."

The bottom three flights all went to supertiebreakers. Senior Cinta Maria Papke (Flein, Germany) topped Luise Intert 6-2, 3-6, (10-7) at No. 5, junior Laura Matuskova (Bratislava, Slovakia) came back after a first-set loss to defeat Mariella Calderon 3-6, 6-2, (10-3) on court 6, and Quetzali Vazquez picked up the Ospreys only point of the day at No. 4, winning 5-7, 6-4, (10-6) over senior Michaela Meszarosova (Bratislava, Slovakia).

Stiteler and Papke struck first in doubles, claiming a 6-3 win at No. 2 over Intert and Gomez, but Hemmerich and Vazquez struck back at No. 1, edging Valkova and Meszarosova 6-3.

Trailing 5-4 on court 3, Matuskova and freshman Alina Zolotareva (Barnaul, Russia) won the final three games of the set the clinch the doubles point 7-5 over Valdez and Calderon.

"They competed so hard and showed great fight," Keyser said of his No. 3 pairing. "The doubles point wasn't very good – we probably did everything we aren't supposed to do – but we fought and clawed ourselves out of a hole over there, and give the girls credit for that."

The Jaguars will take the rest of the week off before returning to action Saturday at home against Samford. USA's matches against Yale and Stetson, scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively, have been cancelled and will not be made up.

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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