ORLANDO, Fla. – App State Tennis phenom Savannah Dada-Mascoll advanced to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Singles Championships by adding another ranked win to her decorated résumé Thursday, prevailing 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 in a three-set thriller against No. 47 Emma Charney from Southern Cal.
Dada-Mascoll will look to continue her historic run Friday when she faces No. 67 Emily Welker of Ole Miss in a quarterfinal match, which will be streamed on ESPN+. The start time for that match has not been announced.
On Thursday, Dada-Mascoll led 3-1 in the second set and was then ahead 4-3 before Charney won the next six games to even the match at one set apiece and take a 3-0 lead in the final set. Charney had a 40-15 lead on her serve to go ahead 4-0, but Dada-Mascoll broke serve in dramatic fashion to start a dominant stretch in which she rattled off the final six games.
With Charney ahead 40-30 at 3-0 in the third set, Dada-Mascoll hit a lunging backhand slice from behind the baseline to extend a lengthy rally and later drilled a crosscourt backhand toward a sideline for a potential winner on the 36th shot of the point. Charney called the ball wide, but Dada-Mascoll challenged the call, and the electronic system at the USTA National Campus facility showed that the ball hit the line.
Instead of making it a 40-40 score of deuce in that game, with collegiate tennis using a no-ad format, Dada-Mascoll won the game and cut her deficit to 3-1 because it was the second time an on-court call from Charney had been challenged and overturned, leading to a one-point penalty.
Dada-Mascoll held serve and broke again to even the set at 3-all, then moved ahead with another hold. She broke Charney's serve at love and was at 30-30 in the final game before earning a match point with an unreturnable crosscourt backhand into the ad-court corner. Charney's errant attempt at returning a Dada-Mascoll drop shot ended the match, triggering a triumphant scream and crouching fist pump from the Mountaineer standout.
The NCAA Singles Championships have extended a run of historic firsts for the App State senior from Yorkshire, England. Making the program's first NCAA singles appearance, she earned the program's first victory with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Cal's Naomi Xu on Tuesday.
Dada-Mascoll's 6-3, 6-0 win over Clemson's Ria Bhakta on Wednesday instantly made her the program's first ITA All-American and left her as the only player from outside the ACC/Big Ten/SEC/Big 12 power structure to reach the final 16.
Her success in Orlando has followed a headline-making stretch in which she took down a combined eight ranked opponents throughout the ITA All-American Championships and ITA Regionals, including a win over then-No. 1 DJ Bennett of Auburn.
