Championship Central
PEACHTREE CITY, Ga. – Saturday's semifinals provided two thrilling matches as No. 2 South Alabama and No. 8 Georgia Southern prevailed by identical 4-1 scores to set up Sunday's finale at the 2019 Sun Belt Conference Women's Tennis Championship.
The Jaguars and Eagles meet in tomorrow's championship final at 11 a.m. ET on ESPN+ with Matt Stewart and Ken Thomas on the call.
Played in indoors at the Peachtree City Tennis Center, both semifinal matchups were more highly contested than their scores indicate.
South Alabama needed a couple of rallies to get past No. 6 Georgia State. In doubles, the Jaguars leaned on the veteran senior duo of Alexandria Stiteler and Patricia Martins to fight back from a 5-2 deficit to force a tiebreaker and eventually clinch the point with a 7-6(5) victory on No. 2. In singles, Sun Belt Player of the Year Yu Fujioka earned a straight-set win at No. 1 and Stiteler extended the Jaguars' lead to 3-0 with a three-set victory at No. 2.
The Panthers would not go away quietly as junior Damira Muminovic battled to a three-set win at No. 3 while the remaining three singles matches were underway. The clinching decision for South Alabama came from sophomore Milka Pasanen's late rally to win the final two points in her 6-1, 6-4 victory at No. 4.
Georgia Southern continued to play the role of Cinderella with its upset over No. 4 UTA. The Eagles advance to just their second conference championship final in program history. Georgia Southern made it to the New South Women's Athletic Conference (later the Trans America Athletic Conference, then Atlantic Sun Conference) Tournament final in 1986.
The doubles point went to the Eagles thanks to a 6-4 win by junior Arianne de Winter and senior Emilia Bujan at No. 1. Wins at the Nos. 1 and 3 singles positions pushed the lead to 3-1. UTA put up a valiant effort trying to get back in the match, but it was Georgia Southern freshman Luisa Hrda overcoming a first-set tiebreak loss to win 6-7(4), 6-2, 6-4 at No. 4 and send her eighth-seeded squad to the championship final.
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2019 SUN BELT WOMEN’S TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIP
Schedule
Saturday, April 20 (Championship)
Match 7 – No. 8 Georgia Southern vs. No. 2 South Alabama (ESPN+), 11 a.m.
All Times are Eastern and Subject to Change
Results
Match 5 - No. 2 South Alabama 4, No. 6 Georgia State 1
Doubles
1. Chivu, Eva/Ramirez, Daniela (GSU) def. Fujioka, Yu/Pasanen, Milka (USA) 6-3
2. Martins, Patricia/Stiteler, Alexandria (USA) def. Muminovic, Damira/Stanescu, Andreea (GSU) 7-6 (7-5)
3. Kohoutova, Nikola/Takanishi, Yurie (USA) def. Vovk, Lara/Grosheva, Anastasia (GSU) 6-4
Singles
1. Stiteler, Alexandria (USA) def. Chivu, Eva (GSU) 6-2, 6-7 (4-7), 6-3
2. Fujioka, Yu (USA) def. Ramirez, Daniela (GSU) 6-4, 6-0
3. Muminovic, Damira (GSU) def. Kohoutova, Nikola (USA) 4-6, 6-4, 6-0
4. Pasanen, Milka (USA) def. Vovk, Lara (GSU) 6-1, 6-4
5. Martins, Patricia (USA) vs. Stanescu, Andreea (GSU) 3-6, 0-1, unfinished
6. Monsalve, Diana (USA) vs. Grosheva, Anastasia (GSU) 1-2, unfinished
Order of finish: Doubles (1,3,2); Singles (2,1,4,3,5,6)
Match 6 - No. 8 Georgia Southern 4, No. 4 UTA 1
Doubles
1. Bujan, Emilia/de Winter, Arianne (GS) def. Chileno, Liz/Takeuchi, Nanaka (UTA) 6-4
2. Boixader, Paula/Hrda, Luisa (GS) def. Horiguchi, Momoka/Pons, Carla (UTA) 6-3
3. Boza, Almudena/Natal, Lucia (UTA) vs. van Diemen, Charlotte/Truscott, Lindsay (GS) 5-4, unfinished
Singles
1. de Winter, Arianne (GS) def. Horiguchi, Momoka (UTA) 6-4, 6-7 (4-7), 6-2
2. Bujan, Emilia (GS) def. Pons, Carla (UTA) 7-5, 3-6, 6-2
3. Natal, Lucia (UTA) def. Boixader, Paula (GS) 6-4, 6-2
4. Hrda, Luisa (GS) def. Takeuchi, Nanaka (UTA) 6-7 (4-7), 6-2, 6-4
5. Chileno, Liz (UTA) vs. Hartig, Mila (GS) 5-7, 6-1, 1-0, unfinished
6. Boza, Almudena (UTA) vs. Goines, Elizabeth (GS) 3-6, 5-2, unfinished
Order of finish: Doubles (1,2,3); Singles (3,2,1,4,5,6)