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 the winner of No. 3 Coastal Carolina and 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.

UP NEXT
JMU awaits the winner of No. 3 Coastal Carolina and No. 6 Marshall in the semifinals, which will be played Saturday, April 29 at 2 p.m.

— JMU Athletics —