PEACHTREE CITY, Ga. – The University of South Alabama women's tennis team edged out the doubles point then took three singles matches in straight sets to shut out Troy 4-0 Thursday in the quarterfinals of the Sun Belt Conference Championships at the Peachtree Tennis Center.

The second-seeded Jaguars record their fifth straight 20-win season and currently stand at 20-4 on the season. The seventh-seeded Trojans fall to 10-11.

DOUBLES
-Troy's Maria Casas Blas and Celia Estevan struck first in doubles, defeating sophomore Nikola Kohoutova and freshman Yurie Takanishi 6-2 at No. 3
-Sophomores Yu Fujioka and Milka Pasanen answered on court 1 with a 6-2 victory over Pei Ju Hsieh and Chunxi Guo, and seniors Alexandria Stiteler and Patricia Martins clinched the point at No. 2 after blanking Tingting Pei and Matra Mihaljevic 6-0

SINGLES
-Pasanen doubled the Jaguar lead with a 6-1, 6-4 win over Estevan at No. 4, and Martins tacked on another point on court 5, winning 6-3, 6-0 vs. Guo
-Stiteler finished the match at No. 1, downing Mihaljevic 6-3, 7-5

QUOTES FROM COACH KEYSER
Overall thoughts: "The good thing is we get to rest up a little bit, get a bite to eat and get ready for tomorrow. Secondly, I'm just glad we got through that. I felt like we were ahead the whole time and played pretty well, but Troy's a dangerous team. They were hanging around so it's nice to put that match away."

On getting an early lead: "Doubles has come a long way. At one stage early in the season we were struggling to find some combinations, but we put some good work in and hopefully it comes full circle tomorrow."

On Stiteler: "She's played No. 1 for four years, she's a great player and has won at an unbelievable clip, so I'm not surprised when we need her to close out a match, she's there to close it out."

QUOTES FROM ALEXANDRIA STITELER
Overall thoughts: "I started off good in the first set, really quick, and then she started to make a comeback and I was able to close out the first set. In the second set, she played much better and I was able to stay calm and close it out. We're pretty excited about winning this one, but we have to quickly refocus and get ready for the next one tomorrow."

NOTES
-South Alabama has won seven straight against Troy and leads the series 16-4
-USA is 2-1 vs. Troy at the Sun Belt Championships; both wins have come in the last two years
-Fujioka and Pasanen are 3-0 as a doubles pair at No. 1
-Stiteler improved to 14-6 at No. 1; she now has 63 career wins at the top flight, the most in school history

UP NEXT
The Jaguars will take on No. 6 seed Georgia State tomorrow morning at 9 a.m. CDT.

For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com, and follow the Jaguars at www.twitter.com/WeAreSouth_JAGS. 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
 
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