MOBILE, Ala. – The University of South Alabama women’s tennis team will travel to Murfreesboro, Tenn. this weekend for back-to-back matches against Sun Belt Conference foes Middle Tennessee and Denver.

Both matches will be held at the Buck Bouldin Tennis Center on MTSU’s campus. Saturday at 11 a.m. the Jags will match up with the Denver Pioneers. USA’s bout with the Blue Raiders will be Sunday at 10 a.m.

“We have another couple of Sun Belt matches ahead of us,” said USA head coach Jaco Keyser. “Denver is usually pretty strong. Hopefully we can just give the same effort that we gave last week in Florida.”

The Jaguars fell to 1-7 in their spring campaign after dropping their last match to Florida Atlantic on March 19.

South Alabama’s top performer is junior Chané Hines (Johannesburg, South Africa). Hines has split her singles matches at 4-4 so far this season and has lost only one match on the No. 3 court. Her doubles record in dual matches is also 4-4. The duo of Hines and sophomore Jess Courtnell (Newcastle, England) is undefeated in the No. 1 flight.

The Jags lead the all-time series with the Blue Raiders 17-1. Middle Tennessee’s first win against USA came last season when they defeated the Jags 5-2 on the Bruce David Lubel Memorial Tennis Courts.

The Blue Raiders are 5-7 in dual matches and are coming off of a 5-2 loss to Memphis at the Buck Bouldin Tennis Center on March 20.

Middle Tennessee’s No. 1, Yuiri Nomoto, holds a 20-9 singles record overall and is 6-6 this spring. Another top performer for the Blue Raiders is Carla Nava who is 7-5 in dual matches and 11-6 overall. As a tandem, Nomoto and Nava are undefeated in doubles on the No. 1 court. The pair holds a 6-1 mark overall.

USA’s all-time series with Denver stands at 2-2. The last time the Jags took on the Pioneers was at the 2007 Sun Belt Conference Championship in Denton, Texas where South Alabama blanked DU 4-0.

Denver enters the weekend at 4-10. The Pioneers are fresh off of a two-loss road trip to San Diego where they dropped a 7-0 decision to No. 25 San Diego and a had 5-2 loss to San Diego State.

DU’s Elena Najera has posted a team-best 8-6 mark in dual matches at No. 2 singles and is 15-11 overall.

For more information about South Alabama athletics, check with www.usajaguars.com.  Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251)461-1USA(1872).

—USA—