Match Statistics
 
Mobile, Ala. – The Texas State women's tennis team suffered its first loss against a Sun Belt Conference opponent this year when they dropped a 5-2 decision against South Alabama on the Bruce David Lubel Memorial Courts Thursday afternoon.
 
Jessica Kahts and Eva Dench won their singles matches to account for Texas State's two points in the match. Kahts won the No. 1 match against Michaela Meszarosova in straight sets by the score of 6-2, 6-4.
 
Dench also posted her first win in a No. 5 match this season when she beat Laura Matuskova in straight sets by the score of 6-4, 6-4.
 
Thursday's contest began with South Alabama winning the team doubles point after winning two of the three matches.
 
Monica Pieratt and Shannon Beckett fell 8-3 in the No. 2 match against Laura Valkova and Monica Mitta. The Jaguars also won the No. 3 match in a tiebreaker as Katy Collins and Eva Dench dropped an 8-7 decision when Cinta Maria Papke and Paula Sanchez won the tiebreaker by a score of 7-5.
 
Another tiebreaker also was used to decide the No. 1 match. Kahts and Ana Laura Gutierrez combined to win the match after outlasting Emily Newton and Meszarosova by a score of 14-12 in the tiebreaker for an 8-7 victory.
 
The Jaguars came back to clinch the victory in singles play when they won the No. 3, 4 and 6 matches. In the No. 3 match, Gutierrez dropped a 6-0, 6-2 decision against Newton, while Beckett suffered a 6-4, 6-0 loss against Mitta in the No. 4 match. In the No. 6 match, Bérénice Van den Bergh suffered a 6-4, 6-0 setback against Sanchez.
 
In the No. 2 match, Pieratt suffered a hard-fought loss that included tiebreakers in two of the three sets against Valkova. Pieratt won the first set, 7-6, after winning the tiebreaker by a score of 7-4. After dropping the second set, 6-3, she lost the third set  by the score of 11-9.
 
The loss drops Texas State's overall record to 7-6 and the Bobcats are 2-1 against Sun Belt Conference opponents heading into their next match against Arkansas State at the Bobcat Tennis Complex next Tuesday at 1:00 p.m.