ORLANDO, Fla. – App State Tennis All-American Savannah Dada-Mascoll fell in the quarterfinal round of the NCAA Singles Championships to No. 67-ranked Emily Welker from Ole Miss in a three-set battle Friday, with Welker prevailing 4-6, 6-3, 7-5.
Dada-Mascoll, who faced an opponent who received a walkover in the Round of 16, started strong by winning the first set. She won six of the nine games after dropping the first to secure an early lead, then dropped the second set after holding an initial 2-0 lead.
The bulk of the drama came in the third set, with seven games going to deuce in a format with no-ad scoring. Dada-Mascoll won deuce points to go ahead 3-2 and 4-2 before she had a single match point at deuce with a 5-3 lead on her serve. Welter broke serve there, held serve to make it 5-all and broke serve on a deuce point to move ahead 6-5 before closing out the match.
Despite the loss, the tournament run set program records and establish program firsts. Making App State's first NCAA Singles Championships appearance, she cruised past Cal's Naomi Xu 6-3, 6-3 in the Round of 64. That earned Dada-Mascoll and the App State tennis program their first win at an individual NCAA tournament in singles or doubles.
Dada-Mascoll then prevailed over Clemson's Ria Bhakta 6-3, 6-0 to advance to the Round of 16, a victory that clinched the ITA All-America honor for the Yorkshire, England native.
To advance to the quarterfinals, Dada-Mascoll added another ranked win, taking down No. 47 Emma Charney of Southern Cal by a 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 score. She moved to the final eight by winning six straight games in the third set after being down 3-0.
Dada-Mascoll's tournament success followed a superb fall campaign in the ITA All-American Championships and ITA Regionals, as she took down a combined eight ranked opponents, including a win over then-No. 1-ranked DJ Bennett of Auburn. She was crowned the ITA Regional Singles Co-Champion, winning the tournament for the first time in program history and defeating three ranked opponents in the process.
NCAA Singles Championships Results:
#106 Savannah Dada-Mascoll def. Naomi Xu (Cal) | 6-3, 6-3
#106 Savannah Dada-Mascoll def. Ria Bhakta (Clemson) | 6-3, 6-0
#106 Savannah Dada-Mascoll def. #47 Emma Charney (USC) | 6-4, 4-6, 6-3
#67 Emily Welker (Ole Miss) def. #106 Savannah Dada-Mascoll | 4-6, 6-3, 7-5
