Lady Raiders Advance to Second Round Before Falling to USA in SBC Tourney

MOBILE, Ala. - For the first time since entering the Sun Belt, the Middle Tennessee Lady Raider tennis team (8-14) advanced to the second round of the Sun Belt Championships on Friday.

In the previous four years, the Lady Raiders suffered a loss in the first round and fell to the losers bracket. Since there is no back-draw this year, Middle Tennessee had the added pressure of win or go home. Middle Tennessee, seeded eighth, defeated No. 9 seeded North Texas 4-1 before falling to No. 1 seed South Alabama 4-0.

Middle Tennessee's Jennifer Klaschka, an All-Sun Belt honoree in doubles and singles, cruised to a 6-1, 6-1 first flight singles victory over Krysta Lee. Klaschka, along side partner Ann-Kristin Siljestrom, also faced off against Lee, with her partner Katherine Harris, in doubles play, with the Lady Raider duo taking the first flight win 8-6.

In third flight singles play, Harris was able to extract some revenge by defeating Sijestrom 7-5, 6-2 to earn North Texas' lone point of the match.

"I was really proud of the team," said Head Coach Neil Stapp. "They fought hard against North Texas and I am glad we advanced to the second round."

South Alabama (17-5) earned the match's doubles point after Maria Zivcicova and Katarina Palenikova claimed an 8-0 victory over Emily Vest and Ana Maria Cibils in flight two and the team of Dijana Stanic and Dominika Nemcovicova defeated Claudia Szabo and Jacqui Williams 8-4 in flight three. Andrea Kurekova earned a singles point for the Jaguars with a 6-4, 6-2 flight two victory over Cibils. Nemcovicova added another singles point for USA with a convincing 6-0, 6-1 performance against Vest in the fifth position. In the sixth position, Stanic defeated MT's Jacqui Williams 6-0, 6-1.

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