PEACHTREE CITY, Ga. – A pair of upsets highlighted day one of the 2022 Sun Belt Conference Women’s Tennis Championship at the Peachtree City Tennis Center as only lower seeds Texas State and Louisiana both earned wins, while Troy was the only favorite to win on day one.
 
No. 10-seed Louisiana had arguably the comeback of the day trailing No. 7-seed and defending champion Georgia Southern 3-0 before earning a 4-3 win. No. 9-seed Texas State opened the day with a 4-2 over No. 8-seed Appalachian State, while No. 6-seed Troy proved to be the only higher seed to win on day one, scoring a 4-2 win over No. 11 Arkansas State.
 
The quarterfinals on Friday will get started at 10 a.m. ET, with No. 1-seed South Alabama facing No. 9-seed Texas State, along with No. 4-seed Coastal Carolina facing off against No. 5-seed ULM. In the afternoon matches beginning at 2 p.m., No. 2-seed Georgia State will face in-state rival No. 10-seed Louisiana, while No. 3-seed UT Arlington squares off against No. 6-seed Troy. All four matches will air live on ESPN+.

Match 1: (9) Texas State 4, (8) Appalachian State 2
Box Score

No. 9-seed Texas State opened the 2022 Sun Belt Conference Women’s Tennis Championship with a 4-2 win over No. 8-seed Appalachian State in the first match of the tournament on Thursday.

Texas State (6-15) picked up the doubles point as the team of Jadeh Chan and Mae McCutcheon won 6-1 over the Appalachian State (5-16) duo of Olwyn Ryan-Bovey and Virginia Poggi. The Bobcats earned a walk-over win in the third doubles match as the Mountaineers were down a player.
 
Entering singles, Texas State immediately took a 2-0 lead following a walk-over in the No. 6 singles spot. The Bobcats increased the lead to 3-0 after Maria Lora earned a 6-3, 6-1 win over Brooke Gruber.
 
The Mountaineers made things interesting as Olwyn Ryan-Bovey earned a 6-0, 6-1 win over Mae McCutcheon and Virginia Poggi topped Sofia Fortuno 6-3, 6-4, to cut the Bobcat lead to 3-2.
 
However, Texas State’s All-Sun Belt First Team member Hana Kvapilova clinched the match for the Bobcats with a 6-3, 7-6 (7-5) win over Ksenia Aleshina to advance the Bobcats into the quarterfinals.

Texas State will face co-regular season champion and No. 1-seed South Alabama on Friday morning at 10 a.m., in the first of four quarterfinal matches at the Peachtree City Tennis Center. 

Match 2: (6) Troy 4, (11) Arkansas State 2
Box Score

After losing the doubles point, No. 6-seed Troy rallied in singles for a 4-2 win over No. 11-seed Arkansas State on Thursday afternoon in the second match of the 2022 Sun Belt Conference Women’s Tennis Championship at the Peachtree City (Ga.) Tennis Center.
 
Troy improved to 9-12 on the season and will now face co-regular season champion and No. 3-seed UT Arlington on Friday at 2 p.m. ET, in the quarterfinals. Arkansas State’s season comes to a close at 6-14.
 
The Red Wolves got on the board first in doubles with a pair of 6-3 wins from Thea Rice and Nejla Zukic, along with Emily Surcey and Hunter Roper.
 
The Trojans took the first two singles matches to take a 2-1 lead on the Red Wolves as Olivia Elliott topped Sofia Vdovychenko 6-2, 6-3, and Kristina Kukaras scored a 6-1, 6-4 victory over Thea Rice.  

Arkansas State’s Yasmine Humbert tied the match 2-2 with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Franziska Ahrend, before Troy’s Anastasiia Khokhlova defeated Emily Surcey 6-2, 6-4 to give the Trojans a 3-2 lead.
 
Troy closed out the match when Hagar Amin defeated Hunter Roper 7-5, 6-1, to secure the win.
 
The Trojans will advance to the quarterfinals of the championship for a second-straight year.

Match 3: (10) Louisiana 4, (7) Georgia Southern 3
Box Score

It came down to the final match and the final set before Angel Santiago secured a 4-3 win for No. 10-seed Louisiana over No. 7-seed Georgia Southern on the opening day of the 2022 Sun Belt Conference Women’s Tennis Championship at the Peachtree City (Ga.) Tennis Center.
 
Santiago’s three-set thriller gave Louisiana (7-11) its first win in the conference tournament since 2014. Georgia Southern, which won the conference title last season, saw its season come to an end at 12-11.
 
Georgia Southern got on the board first taking the doubles point behind wins from the duos of Elizabeth Goines and Sonja Keranen, as well as Hannah Daniel and Sophie Wagemaker.
 
The Eagles quickly raced out to a 3-0 lead as Sophie Wagemaker scored a 6-4, 6-1 win over Momoko Yoshimura, while Silvia Martinez topped Catarina Zheng 6-2, 6-1.
 
The rest of the match would all go to the Ragin’ Cajuns. Lucie Raquin got Louisiana on the board first with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Paula Hijos. Minutes later, Anna Katherine Harvey scored a 6-4, 6-3 win over Hannah Daniel. Carla Urchoeguia then tied the match up for Louisiana with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Sonja Keranen, setting up the third-set heroics from Santiago.
 
Louisiana will now advance to the quarterfinals on Friday where the Ragin’ Cajuns will face co-regular season champion and No. 2-seed Georgia State at 2 p.m. ET.
 
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