MOBILE, Ala. – Coming off a tough 4-3 loss to Middle Tennessee on Sunday, the University of South Alabama women’s tennis team will head north to Birmingham to face off against Samford on Saturday and UAB on Sunday.

Both matches will take place at the Pat M. Courington Tennis Pavilion on Samford’s campus. Saturday’s match against Samford will start at 3 p.m. while the clash Sunday with UAB begins at 10 a.m.

“We just need to get some matches and repetitions in,” said USA head coach Jaco Keyser. “We also need to keep reinforcing what we do in practice. It’s the same thing this weekend. We like to win the matches but the big question we want to answer is, are we getting better day-by-day?”

Three different Jaguars are unbeaten in singles action so far, including senior Alina Volman (Lugansk, Ukraine) who is 1-0 at No. 1 and 2-0 at No. 2. She needed three sets to defeat Yuiri Nomoto on Sunday, 6-2, 2-6, 6-3.

Freshman Mary Angela Martin (Mobile, Ala.) and sophomore Emily Newton (Dothan, Ala.) have a combined 5-0 singles record and have yet to lose a set. Newton has dropped just three games total in two wins in the spring.

Samford is off to a 4-0 start and will be wrapping up a five-match homestand Saturday to start the spring. The Bulldogs opened the season with a 4-3 win over Middle Tennessee and have defeated their next three opponents by a combined score of 19-2.

UAB earned its first win of the spring Feb. 4 at home against Austin Peay and currently stands at 1-2 on the year. The Blazers are a combined 4-2 at No. 2 and No. 3 singles, but have yet to win a match at the top flight.

“To be honest it really doesn’t matter who we play, whether it’s Samford, UAB or anyone else,” said Keyser. “We just have to keep focusing on ourselves, not who’s across the net.”

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

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