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MOBILE, Ala. – Coming off its first NCAA Tournament appearance in 10 years, the University of South Alabama women's tennis team will return to the court this weekend for the Thomasville Invitational held at Glen Arven Country Club.

The tournament, held Saturday-Sunday, will feature competitors from Valdosta State, West Florida and Florida A&M.

"It's been good the last two weeks to get back on the practice courts and get started this weekend," USA head coach Jaco Keyser said. "I want to get the girls in match situations the next three or four weekends in a row. I want to see where we're at and what we need to work on."

The Jaguars return six letterwinners from last year's 21-3 team that set a new school record with 18 consecutive victories and claimed the Sun Belt Conference Tournament title. Two of those letterwinners, seniors Cinta Maria Papke (Flein, Germany) and Paula Sanchez (Bogota, Colombia), will make the trip to play on Glen Arven Country Club's clay-court surface.

"With an older team, their game plans are pretty well defined, it's just to see where we're at exactly," Keyser said. "If anything out of the ordinary is there, we'll sharpen it up.

"Clay is a little easier on the bodies, and both of their playing styles are geared toward longer points. It gives them an opportunity to really zone in on what they should be doing with the clay courts being a little slower."

Sanchez played just two singles matches last season, but excelled in doubles, posting an 18-3 mark in the spring, with 17 wins in her first 18 outings. She went 14-2 in singles at No. 6 as a sophomore and holds a 31-5 doubles record the last two spring seasons.

"It's good to have her back playing in the fall," Keyser said. "She had an unbelievably good sophomore year, losing just a few matches, but had some injuries last fall where she couldn't get the court time and struggled to make the singles lineup. It's exciting to have her back in the mix."

Papke made the most of her limited opportunities last year, posting a 6-2 dual mark in singles at the bottom three spots in the lineup, and went 4-0 in doubles with Sanchez.

"The first two years she was a great contributor in the lineup, had some ups and downs, but it's now very important for her to have a strong fall," Keyser noted.

This weekend's tournament is the first of seven tournaments on the fall schedule. The following weekend, the Jags go to the Warhawk Fall Tennis Tournament in Monroe, La., then make a return trip to the UNLV Invitational Sept. 25-27.

The month of October opens with the Samford Quad (Oct. 2-4), and after a week off, South Alabama will participate in the USTA/ITA Southern Regional Championships in Auburn.

USA wraps up its fall slate Nov. 6-8, sending contingencies to the Red & Blue Challenge hosted by SMU, and the USTA Clay Court Invitational in Orlando, Fla.

"We're playing four weekends in a row to get some matches in, then we'll have a rest period where we try and peak for regionals before finishing early in November," Keyser stated. "I wanted to hit it heavy with the matches early on, take a break, get back on the courts and fix a few things and fine tune as we get later in the fall."

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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