MOBILE, Ala. – With its home schedule wrapped up, the University of South Alabama women's tennis team closes out the 2014 regular season with five straight on the road, starting with a three-match swing through Virginia this week.

The Jaguars will face Norfolk State Thursday (1 p.m.), Old Dominion Friday (11 a.m.) and Richmond Saturday (9 a.m.).

Thursday's match will be just the Jags' second in three weeks. Sunday the team returned to the court after a 2½ week break and defeated Louisiana-Lafayette 6-1.

"I thought we came out fresh, with good focus and had some legs underneath us," head coach Jaco Keyser said. "The main thing was, mentally, we seemed very fresh and ready to go.

"When we came out, we didn't give points away; we had a solid base, we played good defense and then started adding our offense. Once we do that, we're a pretty good team. We have to do that across the board consistently and hopefully we can do that again this weekend."

This week has the highest concentration of matches in a three-day period for the team this season, but Keyser believes it is good prep for the Sun Belt Conference Championships later this month.

"It's a little bit of a build-up or trial run for conference," he said. "If we're going to win the conference, we've got to play three days in a row and we get a little test of this this weekend of how our games hold up and more importantly, how we hold up physically. Hopefully we can come back after this weekend and feel like we're ready physically and mentally to hold up three days in a row.

"All three matches are the same for us. We have to keep on working on our doubles, and in singles we have some players with confidence and hopefully we can keep on building that confidence. Just like this past weekend against Louisiana-Lafayette, we have to get five, six, seven competitive points out there and hopefully we can start if off on Thursday against Norfolk State."

Norfolk State had their three-match win streak snapped at home Tuesday to Longwood, while both Old Dominion and Richmond have split their last four matches. USA has won all four previous meetings with ODU, the last a 5-2 decision over the 50th-ranked Monarchs in 2009, but has never faced either NSU or Richmond.

"ODU has a very strong team this year; I feel like they're the same as us," Keyser said. "They're a young team on an upward swing. The same with Richmond. I think if we can squeak out those matches or be competitive in those matches, I think that will be a good guide for how we'll do in conference."

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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