MOBILE, Ala. – After going 18-3 in the regular season, the University of South Alabama women's tennis team is the No. 4 seed in the Sun Belt Conference Championships.
The Jaguars will face off against Texas-Arlington in the quarterfinals Friday at 8 a.m. the Peachtree City Tennis Center. The winner will play against the victor of No. 1 Troy and No. 9 Georgia Southern Saturday at 10 a.m.
MATCH INFORMATION:
Date: April 20
Host: Sun Belt Conference
Place: Peachtree City Tennis Center
Match Time: Friday at 7 a.m. CDT
Audio: http://radiotennis.com/event/sun-belt-2/
Bracket: https://sunbeltsports_ftp.sidearmsports.com/custompages/champs/201718/TEN/2018WTEN_champbracket.pdf
Live stats: http://scores.tennisticker.de/usa/sunbelt/league/sb.html?tournid=3734&clubid=764-763&cn1=UTA&cn2=South%20Alabama&ci1=764&ci2=763
ON THE COURT FOR THE JAGUARS
-Yu Fujioka (Fr., Funabashi, Japan, 20-0 singles, 11-5 doubles)
-Nikola Kohoutova (Fr., Kralupy Nad Vltavou, Czech Republic, 9-2 singles, 13-2 doubles)
-Patricia Martins (Jr., Lisbon, Portugal, 10-2 singles, 13-3 doubles)
-Maxine Palmen (Fr., Sittard, Netherlands, 7-10 singles, 6-4 doubles)
-Milka Pasanen (Fr., Pieksamaki, Finland, 1-4 singles, 6-4 doubles)
-Leslie Soto (So., Santiago, Chile, 2-1 singles, 0-0 doubles)
-Alexandria Stiteler (Jr., Bradenton, Fla., 15-2 singles, 11-3 doubles)
-Alina Zolotareva (Jr., Barnaul, Russia, 6-7 singles, 14-5 doubles)
NOTES
-The last time USA and UTA met, the Jags defeated the No. 64 Mavericks 4-3 in the semifinals of the 2016 Sun Belt Conference Championships.
-The Jaguars have a 3-0 series lead over the Mavericks, and all the matches took place in the conference tournament.
-This is the fourth time in five years the two teams will have faced off in the conference tournament.
-UTA went 11-9 in their regular season, led by Lucia Natal who went 13-1 in singles this spring.
-South Alabama's 18-3 record is their highest win percentage since 2015, when the Jaguars won the Sun Belt Conference Championship over UTA.
-The Jags have been in the finals of the Sun Belt Conference Championships for the past four years. Last season, USA fell to Louisiana-Monroe 4-3 in the finals.
-Fujioka and Stiteler were named to the All Sun Belt Conference First Team.
-Fujioka was also named Sun Belt Conference Freshman of the Year and SBC Athlete of the Week.
-Fujioka's 20-0 singles record this spring gives her the highest dual win percentage overall in school history.
-Stiteler ranks first in win percentage at the No. 1 flight (.810) and second in total wins at No. 1 (47) in South Alabama's history.
-Stiteler is also ranked No. 111 by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association.
QUOTES FROM COACH KEYSER
"We had a great regular season. The way things have lined up, we beat the No. 1 seed this year, we beat the No. 2 seed, and we held match points on the No. 3 seed. We're the highest nationally-ranked team in the conference, so there's no reason for us to doubt ourselves. Our expectation every single year is to win the tournament. We've set ourselves up well. We've done the right stuff, and we're peaking at the right time."
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).
Join the Baseline Club, the tennis-specific support club of the Jaguar Athletic Fund. All donations to the Baseline Club go directly to support the South Alabama men's and women's tennis programs. For more information on how you can join visit: http://jaguarathleticfund.com/baselineclub
—USA—
