UH’s Melounova falls in NCAA second round

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STEVE COLQUITT / GEORGIA SPORTS COMMUNICATIONS

Hawai’i’s Petra Melounova during the NCAA Championships at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex in Athens, Ga., on Thursday.

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University of Hawaii freshman Petra Melounova’s season ended with a loss to LSU senior Joana Valle Costa in the second round of the NCAA Division I Women’s Tennis Singles Championship on Thursday in Athens, Ga.

Valle Costa, ranked 46th in the nation, advanced to the round of 16 and snapped Melounova’s 14-match winning streak with a 6-3, 6-2 win at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex.

Melounova, ranked 70th and the Big West player of the year, became the first UH player to reach the round of 32 in the NCAA tournament with an upset of No. 16 Rachel Pierson of Texas A&M on Wednesday and closed the season at 14-2.

“I really value this experience because it was a really good feeling to be among the best players in Division I,” Melounova said in a phone call before heading home to the Czech Republic for the summer. “I hope the nerves I had was just the process that I was here for the first time and I’ll do my best to appear in this tournament again next year.

“I have a good feeling about the past season, but I still know there are plenty of things I need to work on and get better. Along with my team we just need to work hard and hopefully win the Big West next year.”

Melounova broke Valle Costa’s first two service games and went back to serve with a 3-1 lead. But Valle Costa rallied to win the next five games. Melounova dropped an opening set for the sixth time in 21 matches this season.

Valle Costa led 2-0 in the second set when rain forced an hour-long suspension of play. Valle Costa held serve after the delay to extend her run to eight straight games. Melounova managed to hold her next two serves, but Valle Costa ended the match with her sixth service break.

“She was mixing it up, deep, short. I had a really hard time getting into my game,” Melounova said of her first defeat since Jan. 12.

“There were five no-ad games where I lost all of them. If I had won just one or two … everything could have been different. She was really in a rhythm. I was trying to get her out of that, but today I did not really have the game for it.“