Dukes Rally in Singles to Upend South Alabama, Advance to Sun Belt Semis

Friday, April 28

Peachtree City, Ga.

2 p.m.

James Madison University

South Alabama

Dukes Rally in Singles to Upend South Alabama, Advance to Sun Belt Semis

4/28/2023 6:11:00 PM | Women's Tennis

Box Score

PEACHTREE CITY, Ga. – After an extra day wait and through much adversity in the match itself, second-seeded James Madison found a way to survive and advance with a 4-1 victory against No. 7 South Alabama in the Sun Belt Women's Tennis Championship quarterfinals on Friday afternoon at the Peachtree City Tennis Center.

The Dukes improved to 14-7 on the year and advance to Saturday's conference semifinals at 2 p.m. against No. 6 Marshall. The Jaguars ended their season at 18-6.

JMU won the doubles point and captured three of four singles bouts that were completed, including two in come-from-behind fashion.

Daria Munteanu and Daniela Voloh each went 2-0 on the day, clinching doubles as a team and winning their respective singles matches, while Kylie Moulin provided a singles victory. The tandem of Daria Afanasyeva and Reka Matko also set the tone in doubles with the first decision.

HOW IT HAPPENED
Doubles Play

JMU claimed wins on courts three and two while South Alabama won on court one.
Despite a 2-0 lead, JMU couldn't hold on in the court-one matchup, as Kylie Moulin and Ines Oliveira fell 6-2 to Luminita Tutunaru and Tereza Dejnozkova.
Over on court three, Afanasyeva and Matko held on for a 6-4 victory against Chems Doha Zeghloui and Otoha Aoki.
The clinching point came on court two, where Munteanu and Voloh controlled the pace for a 6-3 win against Elysia Pool and Nikola Novotna.

Singles Play

JMU took its 1-0 lead into singles, but South Alabama came out firing, holding leads on every court early and even taking set leads on four different courts.
USA squared the match at 1-1 on court five, as Doha Zeghloui downed Oliveira, 6-1, 6-0.
Voloh rallied to win her first set in a tiebreaker and used that to roll past Novotna, 7-6 (2), 6-2 on court three to give the lead back to the Dukes.
Kylie Moulin dropped her initial frame 6-3 to Tutunaru but would concede just three more games the rest of the way, defeating South Alabama's top singles player by the count of 3-6, 6-2, 6-1.
The clinching point occurred on court four, as Munteanu not only overcame a set deficit, but also rallied from down 4-2 in the third frame. The freshman clutched the final four games, which included a huge deuce point while at 5-4 to beat Dejnozkova, 4-6, 6-1, 6-4.
Two other matches went unfinished. Afanasyeva was a game away from winning her match, as she led Pool, 7-5, 5-2 on court two. That including winning two straight games to win the opening set.
Hope Moulin also forced a third set, as her bout with Delian Kleinhans finished at 4-6, 6-2, 1-3.