FORT WAYNE, Ind.—South Dakota's Dragana Brankovic earned a three-set victory against Samatha Mayer to secure the deciding point in the Coyotes' 4-2 win against IUPUI in a Summit League Tournament quarterfinal match at Carroll High School.
South Dakota (8-10) advances to face top-seeded and defending champion Denver (13-8) at 9 a.m. (CT) Saturday. IUPUI, which lost to South Dakota in the quarterfinals for the second year in a row, concludes its season at 7-13.
Friday's match was a rematch of South Dakota's 4-3 win in Indianapolis back on March 28. Like the regular season script, the Coyotes earned the doubles point to take a 1-0 lead and got singles wins from Yamini Reddy at No. 6 and Yuliya Sidenko at No. 2 for points two and three.
The deviations were at the No. 1 and No. 4 positions. The Jaguars' top player, Valeriia Lavrenchuk, scored a 7-5, 6-4 victory against Milica Pavlovic to cut South Dakota's lead to 3-2. Brankovic, who lost a straight-set decision to Mayer during the regular season, trailed one set to none before rallying for a 1-6, 7-5, 6-3 victory. It was Brankovic's 12th win in 18 matches this spring.
South Dakota's Rymma Maslova and IUPUI's Bobbi Modesto were just starting a third and deciding set at No. 3 singles when play ended. Maslova led 5-7, 6-4, 1-0.
Maslova and Alice Scott teamed for an 8-1 win at No. 2 doubles and Brankovic and Reddy won 8-3 at No. 3. South Dakota held a 6-5 lead at the top spot when the doubles point was clinched.
