MOBILE, Ala. – As the end of the season draws near, the University of South Alabama women’s tennis team hopes to pick up a couple of wins as they head to South Carolina this weekend.

South Alabama will face USC Upstate Thursday at 3 p.m. at the USC Upstate Tennis Complex and Winthrop Saturday at 4 p.m. at the Winthrop Memorial Tennis Courts.

USA splits matches with Sun Belt Conference foes Troy and Louisiana-Lafayette last weekend. The Trojans topped the Jaguars 4-2, but South Alabama rebounded with a 4-0 win over the Ragin’ Cajuns.

“We had some tough matches this past weekend,” said USA head coach Jaco Keyser. “Against Troy it basically came down to the doubles. We blew a big lead and gave the doubles point away. The match with Louisiana-Lafayette was exactly the same except a few points fell our way. We knew going into the weekend that all three teams were evenly matched.”

Sophomore Mary Angela Martin (Mobile, Ala.) is 11-3 in her spring campaign and currently holds a six-match win streak. Freshman Paula Sanchez (Bogota, Columbia) anchors the bottom of the lineup with a 9-2 record and seven straight-sets wins.

Doubles have been a strength for the Jaguars with a 30-9 mark and a .769 win percentage in the spring season. Sophomores Mariya Krachok (Kiev, Ukraine) and Ramona Ghermani (Bad Wimpfen, Germany) have paired up to go 10-3 in dual matches.

Thursday will mark the first meeting between USC Upstate and South Alabama. USCU is 10-5 overall and 4-2 in home matches. Taylor Cohen leads the Spartans with an 8-6 record at the top four spots and Julie Bell follows with a 9-4 mark at Nos. 4-6. USC Upstate is 27-10 in doubles and the duo of Allison Beeler and Constanze Kuerten started the season with a seven-match win streak and are 8-1 overall.

“We’ve never played USC Upstate, but from what I hear they’re a really competitive team,” said Keyser. “They’re probably the same as what we just saw last weekend. I’m just looking forward to having some strong matches and building on a few things we ran across in Louisiana.”

Winthrop enters Saturday’s clash with a 10-9 record, after winning five straight since March 17 when they defeated Florida International 5-2. Alice Garcia and Giovanna Portioli are both 13-6 in singles and each hold a five-match win streak.

USA leads the all-time series with WU 2-0. The two teams haven’t met since 2009 when the Jaguars defeated the Eagles 6-1.

“Winthrop is very competitive,” said Keyser. “They have won their conference every year. I actually know a couple of their players and we are going to have our work cut out for us.”

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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