April 21, 2007

Results

SAN ANTONIO, Texas - The UT Arlington women's tennis team avenged a regular-season loss at Sam Houston State with a 4-1 win to advance to Sunday's finals at the 2007 Southland Conference Women's Tennis Championship here Saturday.

The Mavericks (15-3) will play either top-seed Southeastern Louisiana or fourth-seed Lamar at 11:30 a.m. with the winner advancing to the NCAA Regional Tournament.

"Winning the doubles point was huge. It gave us a lot of momentum going into singles play and we were able to carry it over," said UT Arlington tennis coach Younes Liman. "The conditions were tough with all of the wind, but I thought we were able to gain confidence (going into the finals)."

UT Arlington won the doubles point with wins at the Nos. 2 and 3 spot.

No. 2 doubles, Daniela Novakova and Sara Pesic upended Brooke Mills and Peta Taylor, 8-6, while Sofya Lifanova and Marissa Brown took the No. 3 match with an 8-4 win over Lauren Janak and Patricia Manzur.

In singles, Simri van Rooyen rallied from a 3-2 deficit in set one to win 6-4, 6-0 at the No. 3 position.

Sam Houston State picked up their only match of the day when Emma McDougall defeated Marissa Brown 6-4, 6-1.

At No. 1 singles, Monika Peciulionyte won the first set quickly, 6-2, and then rallied from a break down to beat Irina Sotnikova 6-3. The win was sweet for Peciulionyte after losing to Sotnikova in the regular-season meeting in straight sets.

"It really helped to win the first set so fast," said Peciulionuyte who had to be helped off the court and a back injury flared up at the conclusion of the match.

Novakova won the decisive point with a three-set victory over Lata Assudani, 6-3, 1-6, 6-3.

After winning the opening set 6-3, Novakova dropped four of the first five games of the second set and eventually lost 6-1. But Novakova rallied to win the opening game of the third set and finally broke Assudati to lead 5-3 en route to the win.

Southland Conference Tennis Championship
Semifinals, April 21, 2007, San Antonio, Texas
UT Arlington 4, Sam Houston State 1
Doubles
No. 1 - Monika Peciulionyte/Simri van Rooyen vs. Irina Sotnikova/Lata Assudani, unfinished
No. 2 - Daniela Novakova/Sara Pesic, UTA, def. Brooke Mills/Peta Taylor, 8-6
No. 3 - Sofya Lifanova/Marissa Brown, UTA, def. Lauren Janak/Patricia Manzur, 8-4

Singles
No. 1 - Peciulionyte, UTA def. Sotnikova, 6-2, 6-3
No. 2 - Novakova, UTA def. Assudani, 6-3, 1-6, 6-3
No. 3 - van Rooyen, UTA def. Mills, 6-4, 6-0
No. 4 - Lifanova leads Taylor, 6-4, 3-4 unfinished
No. 5 - McDougall, SHSU, def. Brown, 6-4, 6-1
No. 6 - Ashley Longoria, SHSU leads Sara Pesic, 6-2, 4-5, unfinished

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