SKYHAWKS PULL THROUGH FOR GRITTY 4-3 TRIUMPH OVER JACKSONVILLE STATE IN OVC TENNIS SEMIFINALS

Saturday, April 27

Nashville, Tenn.

10 A.M.

UT Martin

Jacksonville State

SKYHAWKS PULL THROUGH FOR GRITTY 4-3 TRIUMPH OVER JACKSONVILLE STATE IN OVC TENNIS SEMIFINALS

4/27/2019 4:13:00 PM | Tennis

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NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The University of Tennessee at Martin will play for the 2019 Ohio Valley Conference tennis championship trophy after yet another breathtaking win today as the Skyhawks bounced No. 2 seed Jacksonville State by a 4-3 margin in the tournament semifinals.

For the second straight day – and third consecutive UT Martin match – the match boiled down to the final point. Today, it was Andrea Plantada's turn to play the role of hero, as the Skyhawk senior tallied a 7-5, 2-6, 6-2 win at No. 5 singles to break the 3-3 tie and send No. 6 seeded UT Martin to tomorrow's championship match.

"These girls have been the underdogs all year," Skyhawk head coach Dennis Taylor said. "You can keep preaching to keep your head up and things will work out. This year, they have kept working hard and things have worked out for us. We had some tremendous performances in our decisive singles wins and we probably played our best doubles of the season today."

Once again, all six active UT Martin players came away with at least one win on the day. The Skyhawks nabbed the doubles point, earning the first team point of the match after wins at No. 1 and No. 2. Asel Jumamukhambetova/Jemima Potter (No. 1) and Daphne Pratt/Mizuki Sakurai (No. 2) each produced 6-3 wins to ignite UT Martin early.

Jacksonville State (14-4) began singles action with wins at No. 2 and No. 6 to take its first lead of the match. Amelia Campbell continued her fine play of late as she evened the score at 2-2 after a hard-fought 6-4, 6-4 victory at No. 4.

The Gamecocks once again took the lead after a win at No. 3 singles but that would be the final setback for the Skyhawks. Jumamukhambetova powered her way through a 7-6, 6-4 triumph at No. 1 to set the stage for Plantada's huge win.

"We deserved this – it was an overall team win," Plantada said. "We all worked really hard throughout the year and I'm really happy it finally paid off. To win at the end was the most amazing feeling – I've never had a clinching match so for me to do it in the semifinals of the OVC Tournament was probably the highlight of my career."

UT Martin (7-11) will play for its seventh OVC tennis championship in school history on Sunday, April 28 as it will take on No. 1 seed Austin Peay. The match will take place at Centennial Sportsplex in Nashville and will begin at 10 a.m. The Skyhawks are 27-7 all-time against the Governors but Austin Peay enters tomorrow's match with an undefeated 21-0 record as the league's regular season champion.