04/01/06–
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
USA
WOMEN'S TENNIS FALLS SHORT AS IT DROPS 4-3 DECISION TO NO. 43 SOUTH
FLORIDA
CONTACT:
Kevin Beasley
Box
Score
MOBILE
Ala.
- The University of South Alabama women's tennis team,
ranked 75th in the nation, fell short as it dropped a 4-3 decision
to No. 43 South Florida Saturday afternoon at the Bruce David Lubel
Memorial Tennis Courts.
"We just
have to hold our heads up after this tough loss and get ready for
Louisiana-Lafayette on Sunday," said South Alabama women's
tennis head coach Jaco Keyser.
South Alabama
will face fellow Sun Belt Conference member Louisiana-Lafayette,
ranked No. 59 by the ITA, on Sunday at 1 p.m. at the Bruce David
Lubel Memorial Tennis Courts.
The Lady Jags
(10-7, 3-0 SBC) captured the early momentum of the match when they
took two out of the three doubles matches. USA's Maria Zivcicova
and Sylvanie Spanenberg used a dominate performance at No. 2 to
take a 8-3 victory over the USF team of Liz Cruz/Iciri Rai. The
Bulls evened things in the doubles portion of the match when the
19th rated duo of Gabriela Duch and Neyssa Etienne defeated the
Lady Jag team of Klara Jarova and Adrianna Solarova, 8-5 at No.
1.
The doubles
point came down to the No. 3 spot. The teams of Dijana Stanic/Michaela
Babicova (USA) and Luisa Obando/Courtney Vernon (USF) battled back-and-forth
the whole match with neither side able to pull away from the other.
Tied at 8-8, the Bulls took a quick 4-1 advantage in the tie break.
USA's duo of Stanic and Babicova kept chipping away at the South
Florida advantage and was able to eventually reel off the final
four points to take the match and the doubles point with 8-6 victory.
The loss for Vernon and Obando was just the third of the season
for the USF doubles team.
In singles competition,
South Florida (13-3) quickly evened the match back up when Vernon,
ranked 57th by the ITA, took a straight set victory (6-2, 6-1) over
Jelena Krivacevic. Spanenberg put the Jags back out by one when
she took down Obando 6-4, 3-6, 6-1 at No. 6, but the lead did not
last long as Rai defeated Babicova in straight sets (6-3, 6-2).
USF took its first lead of the match when Duch handed USA’s
Stanic a 6-1, 3-6, 6-1 loss at No. 4.
No. 62 Etienne
looked as if she were going to pick up the match point for the Bulls
when she captured the first set 6-4, but Solarova battled to take
the final two sets (7-6 (7-5) and 6-3) at the No. 1 position. The
victory was her seventh straight and third straight against a ranked
opponent.
With the match
tied at 3-3, the deciding point came down to the No. 3 spot. Zivcicova
captured the first set 7-6 over Cruz, ranked 73rd by the ITA. Cruz,
however, was able to take the final two sets, each by the score
of 6-3, and give USF the match victory.
USA's next opponent,
the Ragin' Cajuns, enter the match this weekend ranked 59th by the
ITA and are 11-3 on the year. ULL is 0-1 against Sun Belt members
this spring. ULL has won 11 of last 12 with lone loss coming at
No. 38 Florida International. In their last match, the Cajuns defeated
Northwestern State 6-0 at the Jack Fisher Tennis Complex in Natchitoches.
The victory was the second straight road win and also the second
straight shut out of an opponent. ULL also defeated Florida Atlantic
6-0 in Miami.
ULL sophomore
Chanell Meijer is 11-3 in singles this spring and 15-4 overall,
while true freshman Laura Martelli is 8-1 to lead the way for the
Cajuns.
Tennis Match
Results
South Florida vs University of South Alabama
Apr 01, 2006 at Mobile, Ala.
#43 South Florida
4, #75 University of South Alabama 3
Singles competition
1. Adrianna Solarova (USAW) def. #62 Neyssa Etienne (USF) 4-6, 7-6
(7-5), 6-3
2. #57 Courtney Vernon (USF) def. Jelena Krivacevic (USAW) 6-2,
6-1
3. #73 Liz Cruz (USF) def. Maria Zivcicova (USAW) 6-7, 6-3, 6-3
4. Gabriela Duch (USF) def. Dijana Stanic (USAW) 6-1, 3-6, 6-1
5. Iciri Rai (USF) def. Michaela Babicova (USAW) 6-3, 6-2
6. Sylvanie Spanenberg (USAW) def. Luisa Obando (USF) 6-4, 3-6,
6-1
Doubles competition
1. #19 Gabriela Duch/Neyssa Etienne (USF) def. Klara Jarova/Adrianna
Solarova (USAW) 8-5
2. Maria Zivcicova/Sylvanie Spanenberg (USAW) def. Liz Cruz/Iciri
Rai (USF) 8-3
3. Dijana Stanic/Michaela Babicova (USAW) def. Luisa Obando/Courtney
Vernon (USF) 9-8 (8-6)
Match Notes:
South Florida 13-3; National ranking #43
University of South Alabama 10-7; National ranking #75
Order of finish: Doubles (2,1,3); Singles (2,6,5,4,1,3)
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