MOBILE, Ala. – Sophomore Alina Zolotareva (Barnaul, Russia) went undefeated in singles as the University of South Alabama women's tennis team swept Nicholls State 7-0 and defeated Louisiana-Lafayette 6-1 Sunday at the Mobile Tennis Center.

The Jags went undefeated this weekend, improving to 3-1 on the season. ULL dropped to 1-1, and NSU fell to 0-1.

"It's good to get today's matches in," said USA head coach Jaco Keyser. "It's plenty of tennis, and it's nice to get two wins."

USA took the doubles point in both matches. Against Louisiana-Lafayette, seniors Laura Matuskova (Bratislava, Slovakia) and Monica Mitta (Fairhope, Ala.) swept Carla Ortega and India Shiaelis 6-0 at No. 3, and senior Laura Valkova (Piestany, Slovakia) and sophomore Patricia Martins (Lisbon, Portugal) won 6-0 over Alexandra Way and Abby Johnson on court No. 1.

"We've got some good doubles players," Keyser said. "When we do the right thing, we are a really good doubles team, but the key is doing the right thing. We did it today, and hopefully we can keep on doing it."

Sophomores Alexandria Stiteler (Bradenton, Fla.) and Zolotareva opened doubles against Nicholls State with a 6-1 victory over Clemence Krug and Mariia Kozachok at No. 2. On court No. 1, Valkova and Martins dropped Lingfeng Gu and Changwei Wei 6-1 to secure the doubles point. 

"I felt good about doubles," said Keyser. "We worked on doubles quite a bit this week, and we're moving in the right direction."

In singles against ULL, Zolotareva beat Ortega 6-0, 6-0 at No. 6, and Stiteler bested Way 6-4, 6-0 on court No. 1 to give the Jaguars a 3-0 lead. Valkova secured the victory with a 7-5, 6-1 win over Kelly Drew at No. 3.

Zolotareva opened singles against NSU with another 6-0, 6-0 victory over Andrea Mastrippolito at the No. 6 spot. Matuskova defeated Krug 6-0, 6-2 at No. 3, and Martins won 6-0, 6-2 over Ambika Pande to clinch the second victory for the Jags. 

"The team effort was good against Nicholls, and it was good against Lafayette," Keyser said. "Every match we've played so far, it's been great. That's good to see because that's what we're going to need to be successful."

In other singles action, Mitta bested Lucile Delabarre of Louisiana-Lafayette 6-3, 7-5 at No. 2, and on court No. 1, she dropped Nicholls State's Gu 6-4, 6-3. Valkova defeated Krug 6-2, 6-3 at No. 2 against Nicholls State, and freshman Leslie Soto Bustamante (Santiago, Chile) won 7-5, 6-4 over Changwei on court No. 4. Against ULL, Martins beat Shiaelis 6-0, 6-1 at No. 5, and on court No. 4 Matuskova defeated Johnson 7-5, 6-0.

The Jaguars return to the court Saturday at 11 a.m. as they travel to Birmingham, Ala. to face Samford.

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).

—USA—