PEACHTREE CITY, Ga. – Top-seeded South Alabama will face Georgia Southern in Sunday’s finale of the 2021 Sun Belt Conference Women’s Tennis Championships at the Peachtree City Tennis Center.
After falling in doubles, the Jaguars had a battle in singles action against the Chanticleers. Yu Fujioka, Nikola Kohoutova and Otoha Aoki gave the Jags a 3-1 lead after defeating the Chanticleers in No. 1, No. 2 and No. 5 singles. Coastal Carolina fought back with victories in No. 3 and No. 4 singles to tie the match, 3-3. Then, it all came down to No. 6 singles. After dropping the second set, Aina Domingo-Bernabeu came back with a vengeance in the third set to defeat Jessie Mount and advance the Jags to the Sun Belt Conference finals.
"Extremely gutsy win today,” said South Alabama Head Coach Jaco Keyser. “It's not always easy to process the loss of a doubles point where you were leading 95 percent of the time. Coastal played a great match, so the ability to absorb their punches and squeak out a win is very impressive. Looking forward to another great battle tomorrow."
In the final match of the day, Georgia Southern upset regular season conference champion UTA 4-2. The Eagles had the advantage early with victories in No. 1 and No. 2 doubles. UTA had the upper hand early, taking the first set in four of six matches. Georgia Southern went back in front as Nadja Meier collected a 7-5, 6-1 win over Momoka Horiguchi in No. 1 singles, but the Mavericks tied things up with a straight-set victory in No. 6 singles.
The remaining three singles matches all went to third sets. Sophie Wagemaker brought the Eagles one point away from clinching the match with a 6-2, 1-6, 6-4 win over Polina Akimova in No. 3 singles. Mila Hartig then sent the Eagles into the final with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-0 win over Carla Pons in No. 4 singles.
"I think we started finding a little bit of a lead when Nadja took her match at No. 1," Georgia Southern Head Coach Sean McCaffrey said. "Then Mila and Paula [Hijos] picked up their second sets after dropping their first sets. I felt a real shift of momentum then. When Sophie got to 5-4 in the third and clinched her match, at the same time Mila was up 4-0 in her third set. The key for us was just staying in the moment, not getting too flustered, and the one thing we've been talking about a lot lately - being relentless. Our team gave themselves a chance. They earned it, took full advantage of it and I'm extremely proud of it."
Sunday’s championship match will begin at 1 p.m. ET and will air on ESPN+. Live stats are available at
TennisTicker.
2021 SUN BELT WOMEN’S TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS
SEMIFINALS
Match 8 – South Alabama 4, Coastal Carolina 3
Doubles
1. Dalla-Bona, Somer/Mount, Jessie (CCU) def. Moreno, Cami/Takanishi, Yurie (USA) 6-4
2. Kohoutova, Nikola/Fujioka, Yu (USA) def. Hollins, Jesse/De Samucewicz, V. (CCU) 6-3
3. Jurkova, Kristyna/Urelli, Valentina (CCU) def. Bernabeu, Aina/Otoha, Aoki (USA) 7-5
Singles
1. Fujioka, Yu (USA) def. Dalla-Bona, Somer (CCU) 6-1, 4-6, 6-0
2. Kohoutova, Nikola (USA) def. Jurkova, Kristyna (CCU) 6-3, 6-4
3. De Samucewicz, V. (CCU) def. Moreno, Cami (USA) 6-2, 7-6 (7-4)
4. Urelli, Valentina (CCU) def. Pasanen, Milka (USA) 5-7, 6-4, 6-1
5. Otoha, Aoki (USA) def. Hollins, Jesse (CCU) 6-3, 7-5
6. Bernabeu, Aina (USA) def. Mount, Jessie (CCU) 6-4, 5-7, 6-2
Match 9 – Georgia Southern 4, UTA 2
Doubles
1. Charlotte Van Diemen/Sophie Wagemaker (GS) def. Takeuchi, Nanaka/Chileno, Liz (UTA) 6-2
2. Paula Boixader/Nadja Meier (GS) def. Casasampere, Bruna/Natal, Lucia (UTA) 7-5
3. Pons, Carla/Boza, Almudena (UTA) def. Elizabeth Goines/Sonja Keranen (GS) 6-2
Singles
1. Nadja Meier (GS) def. Horiguchi, Momoka (UTA) 7-5, 6-1
2. Chileno, Liz (UTA) def. Paula Boixader (GS) 6-2, 6-2
3. Sophie Wagemaker (GS) def. Akimova, Polina (UTA) 6-2, 1-6, 6-4
4. Mila Hartig (GS) def. Pons, Carla (UTA) 4-6, 6-3, 6-0
5. Natal, Lucia (UTA) vs. Paula Hijos (GS) 7-6 (7-5), 3-6, 2-3, unfinished
6. Boza, Almudena (UTA) def. Elizabeth Goines (GS) 6-1, 6-3