MOBILE, Ala. – The 74th-ranked University of South Alabama women's tennis team looks to add to their five-match win streak as they head south to Florida on Thursday and Friday.

The Jaguars will face Central Florida Thursday at 1 p.m. in Orlando, then head to Daytona Beach to take on Bethune-Cookman at 1 p.m. Friday.

South Alabama enters the matches with a 5-0 overall mark in its spring campaign. The Jags picked up their most recent victory Feb. 14 at Southern Miss with a 5-2 win over the Golden Eagles. Freshman Laura Valkova (Piestany, Slovakia) clinched the match for USA with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Lisa Noderer on the No. 3 court.

"Southern Miss was a good win," said USA head coach Jaco Keyser. "They actually have a strong, young team. With the weather being so bad last week it was a little scary going into the match, but we played some really good tennis. I was very glad to get that win."

Five Jaguars remain undefeated this season including Valkova, junior Mary Angela Martin (Mobile, Ala.), sophomore Cinta Maria Papke (Flein, Germany) and freshmen Monica Mitta (Fairhope, Ala.) and Laura Matuskova (Bratislava, Slovakia).

"Mary Angela has been winning for a long time now over the last two years," said Keyser. "She puts in all the hard work during the summer and in practice. She's one of the toughest competitors I've ever been around. We knew coming in that Valkova was a really talented player. Hopefully she can keep it up and not get complacent and keep making improvements during practice."

Central Florida owns a 3-3 record this spring after dropping its last match 6-1 to South Florida on Feb. 19. Clare Mendell leads the Knights with a 4-2 mark at the Nos. 5 and 6 spots. Courtney Griffith and Josephine Haraldson are 3-1 at No. 1 doubles this season. South Alabama leads the all-time series with Central Florida 5-0. The two teams haven't met since 2002 when USA topped UCF 4-1.

Thursday will mark the first-ever meeting between the Jaguars and the Wildcats. Bethune-Cookman is 3-6 overall, but snapped a three-match losing streak Tuesday with a 6-1 win over Mount St. Mary's. Mina Matsuba owns a 6-2 mark at the No. 1 spot and pairs with Maria Sablina for a 5-2 overall record in doubles at Nos. 1 and 2.

"We've had almost two weeks off and it should have been longer, but we rescheduled with Central Florida and Bethune-Cookman," said Keyser. "We just need to keep sticking with what we have been doing and hopefully that will help us this week."

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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