ROME, Ga. – App State Tennis advanced to Friday's quarterfinals of the Sun Belt Tournament with a 4-3 victory Thursday against 10th-seeded James Madison, which had defeated the seventh-seeded Mountaineers during the regular season. Taya Powell clinched the victory in dramatic fashion, breaking a 3-all tie in the team score with a three-set victory on Court 2.
Powell defeated Ines Oliveira 6-0, 4-6, 6-3, dropping to her knees in excitement after ending the match with a forehand winner down the line on the 17th stroke of the deuce point. If Oliveira had won the point, she would have been within 5-4 in the final set, but the left-handed Powell's clean winner on her sixth match point prompted her teammates to rush the court and mob her in celebration.