COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The No. 73 University of South Alabama women's tennis team was defeated by No. 10 Texas A&M 4-0 Saturday afternoon at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center in the ITA Kick-Off Weekend event.

"There were some good individual performances but unfortunately this is a team sport and the bottom line is that we came up short today," said USA head coach Jaco Keyser. "The major disappointment for today is the lack of belief in our capabilities and execution of our fundamentals."

With the loss, the Jaguars fall to 1-2 on the year, while the Aggies won their season opener for a 1-0 record.

Texas A&M went ahead 1-0 after winning the first two doubles contests. Rutuja Bhosale and Anna Mamalat dropped Cinta Maria Papke (Flein, Germany) and Alexandria Stiteler (Bradenton, Fla.) 6-1 at No. 2, and Ines Deheza and Saska Gavrilovska defeated Monica Mitta (Fairhope, Ala.) and Paula Sanchez (Bogota, Columbia) 6-1 at No. 3.

In singles, No. 106 Bhosale bested Mitta 6-1, 6-0 to at No. 3, and Mamalat beat Laura Matuskova (Bratislava, Slovakia) 6-2, 6-1 at No. 6 to give the Aggies a 3-0 lead.

To clinch the win for Texas A&M, Eva Paalma defeated Papke 6-1, 6-3 at No. 4.

"We failed to recognize the fact that the margin between us and a top-10 team is very small if we trust our capabilities," Keyser said. "As the leader of this team I need to improve our belief system to help our student-athletes maximize their potential."

The Jaguars return to action Sunday to play the loser of the match between No. 37 Wichita State and No. 61 Minnesota.

"It's a great opportunity tomorrow to stay with the process of becoming the best team we can possibly be by April," said Keyser.

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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