New Orleans, La. – The Texas State women's tennis team's late season rally came to an end on Friday when the Bobcats suffered a 4-1 loss against top-seeded South Alabama in the quarterfinals of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament at the City Parks Tennis Center.
 
The tournament matches are played with the shortened ITA format that includes no advantage scoring in singles and doubles, singles matches being played first, and doubles matches being played only if the score is tied at 3-3.  
 
Texas State, which entered the tournament as the No. 8 seeded team, had won three straight matches and five of its last six matches during April heading into Friday match after beating UL Lafayette, 4-2, in the opening round of the tournament on Thursday.
 
The Jaguars were able to jump out to an early lead after holding off several Bobcat rallies in each of the singles matches. An example came on the No. 1 court where Ana Laura Gutierrez had climbed back into contention in the first set of her match against Laura Valkova.
 
Valkova had opened the match winning four of the first five points, before Gutierrez to win two straight points and pull back to within 4-3. However, Valkova won the next two points to capture the set 6-4 and went on to win the second set by a score of 6-2 to give the Jaguars a 1-0 lead in the match.
 
South Alabama opened up a 3-0 lead when Katy Collins fell 6-2, 6-2 in the No. 6 match and Monica Pieratt suffered a 6-4, 6-2 setback on the No. 2 court.
 
Texas State's lone point came on the No. 5 court where senior Shannon Beckett won her ninth straight match with a 6-1, 6-4 victory over Mary Angela Martin. The win gives Beckett a 10-4 dual record and she has 17 overall wins to lead the Bobcats.
                                                 
The Bobcats were in contention for another point on the No. 4 court where  Eva Dench and Michaela Meszarosova split the first two sets with Mezarosova winning the first set by a score of 6-3, and Dench coming back to claim the second set at 6-0. In the third set, Dench was leading 5-4, but Meszarosova rallied to win the final three points in the match and clinch the victory for South Alabama.

Pippa Carr began her match winning a tiebreaker in the first set of her No. 3 match against Emily Newton, 7-6, before Newton came back to win the second set by a score of 6-3. The match was halted with Newton leading in the third set after Meszarosova won the deciding match.
 
The loss drops Texas State's overall record to 9-7 this season and gives the Bobcats their first winning season since 2012.