Bracket


MOBILE, Ala. – The University of South Alabama women’s tennis team, host of the 2011 Sun Belt Conference Women’s Tennis Championships, will match up with the No. 6 seed Florida Atlantic in the first round at 9 a.m. Thursday morning.

The tournament is scheduled to run Thursday through Sunday and will be played at the Bruce David Lubel Memorial Tennis Courts and the Mobile Tennis Center.

At last season’s SBC Championships the 12th-seeded Jaguars went 1-1, defeating No. 13 Western Kentucky 4-2 before falling to the No. 5 seed, Louisiana at Monroe, 4-0.

The Jags and the Owls have each won one match putting the all-time series record at 1-1. In their last meeting earlier this season, FAU blanked South Alabama 7-0 in Boca Raton, Fla.

“Florida Atlantic is a good team,” said USA head coach Jaco Keyser. “They beat up on us pretty good earlier in the year, but we are excited to play them again. It will be a good opportunity to measure our improvement.”

South Alabama, the No. 11 seed, holds a 2-12 record in its spring campaign. They enter the tournament after picking up their second win of the season this past weekend, splitting back-to-back matches against Xavier of Louisiana and Tulane on April 16-17 in New Orleans.

The Jags blanked XULA 9-0 at Goldring Stadium and fell to the Green Wave 5-2.

Junior Chané Hines (Johannesburg, South Africa) leads the Jaguars going 8-11 overall and 7-7 in dual matches. Hines has only given up three matches in the No. 3 singles flight this season.

Hines also paces South Alabama in doubles action posting a 10-8 mark overall and an 8-6 mark this spring. When she pairs up with sophomore Jess Courtnell (Newcastle, England), the duo has not given up a match in the No. 1 position.

Another player of note for USA is junior Alina Volman (Lugansk, Ukraine). Volman is 10-11 overall and 6-8 in dual matches. She also holds a two-match win streak.  

FAU went 13-11 this spring, its first winning season since 2004.

The Owls are led by Marlene Ryan who finished the season with a 19-10 overall record and a 15-6 mark in the No. 2 singles flight.

Florida Atlantic’s No. 1, Justine Humair has recorded a 13-12 overall record and she went 12-10 in dual matches.

In doubles action, Ryan and Humair teamed up to go 9-2 in their spring campaign.

The winner of the match will take on No. 3 Louisiana at Lafayette.

Admission to all tournament matches is free. For more information about the SBC Men’s Tennis Championships go to www.sunbeltsports.org.

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

—USA—