MOBILE, Ala. - The University of South Alabama women’s team has wrapped up their five-match homestand and will travel to Jacksonville, Fla. to face South Carolina State Saturday at 8 a.m. CST and North Florida Sunday at 10 a.m. CST at the UNF Tennis Complex.
USA enters the match with a 4-1 record in their spring campaign. USA edged Florida International 4-3 Friday, but North Texas snapped the Jaguars’ four-match win streak with a 4-3 win Sunday.
“This past weekend was good to see where we stacked up in the conference,” said USA head coach Jaco Keyser. “North Texas won the conference tournament last year and we lost a close match to them. FIU lost in the final last year and we beat them Friday. Looking back at it, it was pretty encouraging because even though we played good doubles, we played below average singles. So it’s a good sign if we can play both of these teams close when we aren’t playing great singles.”
Freshman Michaela Meszarosova (Bratislava, Slovakia) leads South Alabama with a 4-0 mark at the top three singles spots. She accounted for two points in the match against the Mean Green with an 8-6 win at No. 1 doubles and a 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory over Barbora Vykydalova at the No. 2 singles flight.
“The freshmen have been doing good,” said Keyser. “I think they’re slowly getting into the swing of things. We just have to keep getting their practices better and they’ll make an even bigger impact as the season progresses.”
Saturday will mark the first-ever meeting between South Alabama and South Carolina State. The Bulldogs post a 2-1 record in their spring season and currently hold a two-match win streak.
USA leads the all-time series with UNF 6-1. The two teams have not met since 2010 when the Ospreys defeated the Jaguars 6-1. North Florida enters the match with a 3-2 record. Lorena Aviles leads the Ospreys with a 4-1 mark at No. 1, her only loss coming to the 51st-ranked Kelsey Laurente of No. 10 Miami.
“We just have to keep getting better and we’ve been measuring that in weekly increments,” said Keyser. “So far we have been getting better each week and hopefully next week we can say the same thing.”
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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