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Day 1 Facebook Photo GalleryCHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The University of Dayton women's tennis team advanced to the quarterfinals of the Atlantic 10 championships Thursday with a thrilling three-hour 4-3 win over Saint Louis. Sophomore
Alex Townsend clinched the match when she fought back from being beating 6-1 in the first set, and then fought off eight match points before edging Saint Louis's Kelsey King 1-6, 6-1, 7-6 (8).
Dayton won the doubles point when
Jackie Kawamoto and
Alex Townsend won their match 8-2, and then
Marlys Bridgham and
Mandy Marchant went to a tiebreaker to win 8-7 (5). That foretold how the match's singles would go.
Jackie Kawamoto won her third singles match 6-0, 6-2, and Marchant fell in straight sets 6-4, 6-2 at fifth singles. The remaining four matches would all go three sets.
Carly Peck was edged 4-6, 7-5, 6-2, and
Jade Kawamoto won by the same score. After Bridgham fell in three sets 6-2, 4-6, 7-6 (6) at No. 1 singles, it was on Townsend to come through at No. 2 singles.
Townsend did just that, pushing away eight match points to a player that she lost two in straight sets just six days prior. SLU defeated the Flyers 5-2 in Dayton last Friday in the next-to-last match of the regular season.
"I couldn't be prouder of our team," UD coach
Ryan Meyer said. "We played a terrific match. We played smart, stayed focused and had excellent matches up and down the line. And I can't say enough about how tough
Alex Townsend was against a good player. It says a lot about our girls and our coaches that we were able to turn things around in a matter of days against a team who beats us 5-2 the last time we played."
It was Dayton's first win on the first day of the A-10 tournament since the 2003 championship. The Flyers are now 9-9 in dual matches in 2014-15, after finishing 4-15 a year ago.
UD advances to play the tournament's No. 2 seed, Richmond, Friday. The match is scheduled for 3:00 p.m. ET.
