FORT MYERS, Fla. – The University of South Alabama women's tennis team begins the spring campaign with three matches in three days on the campus of Florida Gulf Coast, first facing the host institution on Friday morning.

MATCH INFORMATION
Dates: 1/17-19 (Friday-Sunday)
Opponents: Florida Gulf Coast (1/17), Iowa (1/18) and Middle Tennessee (1/19)
Host: Florida Gulf Coast
Place: Ft. Myers, Fla.
Match times: 9 a.m. (CST) all three days

ON THE COURT FOR THE JAGUARS
-Yu Fujioka (Jr., Funabashi, Japan; 16-2 singles, 11-9 doubles in dual matches in 2019)
-Nikola Kohoutova (Jr., Kralupy nad Vltavou, Czech Republic; 19-5 singles, 16-7 doubles in dual matches in 2019)
-Diana Monsalve (Sr., Bogota, Colombia; 9-2 singles, 4-0 doubles in dual matches in 2019)
-Cami Moreno (Jr., Rosario, Sante Fe, Argentina; making South Alabama dual match debut)
-Milka Pasanen (Jr., Pieksämäki, Finland; 13-4 singles, 12-6 doubles in dual matches in 2019)
-Leslie Soto (Sr., Santiago, Chile; 4-7 singles, 3-0 doubles in dual matches in 2019)
-Yurie Takanishi (So., Haracho, Japan; 2-5 singles, 16-7 doubles in dual matches in 2019)
-Juliette Talieu (Fr., Villemomble, France; making collegiate dual match debut)

NOTES
-The Jaguars play their first dual match since facing No. 11 Florida State in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament on May 3 last spring.
-Monsalve and Soto begin their final spring at the collegiate level.
-Fujioka is the reigning Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year and was a first-team all-league selection a year ago.
-She led the Jaguars with four singles wins at the two sanctioned tournaments South competed at in the fall, also teaming with Kohoutova for a team-best 4-2 mark in doubles.
-Kohoutova's 19 singles wins last spring were most on the team.
-Pasanen — who won three singles matches in the fall — was 11-6 at No. 1 doubles while winning 13 singles matches in 2019.
-Takanishi tied for the team lead with 16 doubles victories last spring.
-Moreno played her first two seasons at Pitt, where she ended her freshman campaign 44th in the final Intercollegiate Tennis Association's doubles rankings after earning an alternate spot at the NCAA Championship for the first time in program history.
-Talieu competed at two of three fall tournaments after enrolling in school in August, highlighted by advancing to the semifinals in Flight 2 at the UWF Fall Fling.

THEY SAID IT
Head Coach Jaco Keyser
On the opening of the spring season: "We're looking forward to it, it's a good starting point with some stiff competition to start off the season.  I feel like we had a good fall campaign so we have a strong base, we will see this weekend where we are from a point-playing standpoint and more so from a mental endurance standpoint."

For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com, and follow the Jaguars at www.twitter.com/WeAreSouth_JAGS. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).

Join the South Circle, the unrestricted giving option of the University of South Alabama Athletics.  Contributions to the South Circle directly support all 17 sports in addition to various support programming. For more information on how you can join visit: http://jaguarathleticfund.com/give

—USA—