Matthew Grimes Women's Tennis 4/24/2022 4:32:01 PM South Alabama Claims Women's Tennis Championship PEACHTREE CITY, Ga. – South Alabama, the 2022 Sun Belt Conference co-Regular-Season Champion, on Sunday claimed the Sun Belt Conference Tournament Championship with a 4-3 victory against fellow co-regular season champion and No. 3-seed UT Arlington at the Peachtree City Tennis Center. It all came down to the No. 3 singles position where South Alabama’s Luminita Tutunaru survived a thrilling three-set match with Carla Pons earning a 5-7, 7-6 (7-4), 6-1 win in a match that finished more than 90 minutes after the other five singles matches had all been completed. South Alabama, which was the No. 1-seed in the championship improved to 21-4, while UTA fell to 22-3. South Alabama took the doubles point and a 1-0 lead early in the match. All-Sun Belt First Team duo Yu Fujioka and Lara van der Merwe earned a 6-1 win at No. 2 doubles, followed by a 6-4 win from the pair of Mikla Emilia Pasanen and Otoha Aoki at No. 3 doubles. The Mavericks struck back quickly with three-straight convincing wins. At No. 6, Ana Paula Jimenez quickly earned a 6-2, 6-1 win over Lara van der Merwe. Less than a minute later, All-Sun Belt Second Team member Tara Gorinsek earned a convincing 6-1, 6-0 win over Milka Emilia Pasanen. That was quickly followed by All-Sun Belt Second Team member Sarina Reinertsen earning a 6-3, 2-0 win over Otoha Aoki who was forced to retire due to an injury, giving UTA a 3-1 advantage. However, the Jaguars would not be denied. All-Sun Belt Second Team member Yu Fujioka got the Jaguars their second point of the match with a 6-3, 6-3 win over All-Sun Belt First Team member Liz Chileno at the No. 1 singles spot. South Alabama then tied the match 3-3 when Sun Belt Player of the Year Nikola Kohoutova earned a 6-2, 6-3 win over Momoka Horiguchi at the No. 2 singles spot, setting up the dramatics that kept fans around for more than four hours. South Alabama earns the Sun Belt Conference’s automatic bid to the 2022 NCAA Tournament. The NCAA Tournament selection show is slated for Monday, May 2 at 6:30 p.m. ET on NCAA.com. Follow #SunBeltWTEN on social media via Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.