University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Women's Tennis Loses To Troy, 5-2
3/19/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
March 19, 2006
HATTIESBURG, Miss. - The Lady Eagle tennis team lost the doubles competition and four out of six singles spots in their 5-2 loss against Troy Sunday afternoon at Tatum Park.
With the loss, Southern Miss falls to 5-8 (1-2 C-USA), while Troy improves to 7-2 on the spring season.
"Today was the first day that I saw the intensity and fight from our team that we have worked on getting to over the past four years," Head Coach Randy Rowley said. "Though we lost, I'm pleased with the way we came out and played as it was the first time we've played that well all season."
Troy collected two doubles wins back-to-back, as Annabelle Bares and Nicole Shaw (Troy) defeated Chelsea Bond and Courtney Ulrich at No. 3 doubles, 8-2, followed by Tsitsi Masviba and Claudia Strauss' (Troy) 8-5 victory over Grace Kammerer and Sherry Price at No. 1 doubles. Though they had already lost the doubles point, the Lady Eagles finished strong with Ali Blackett and Nikihila Narra's 8-5 victory over Suzanne Jones and Caroline Jouanin at No. 2 doubles, marking their third straight doubles victory.
Blackett/Narra improved their team-best 7-5 doubles record with their win, while the doubles records of Kammerer/Price (5-8) and Bond/Ulrich (0-6) fell with their losses.
Troy's lead jumped to 4-0 with three straight singles victories over Southern Miss, with Shamiaa Elsisi's (Troy) defeat of Natalia Parrado at No. 6 singles, 6-3, 6-1, to begin the run. Strauss (Troy) next defeated Kammerer at No. 2 singles, 6-3, 6-1, followed by Masviba's (Troy) 7-5, 6-2 victory over Price at No. 1 singles.
The Lady Eagles won two out of the last three singles, as Blackett and Narra again came through for the team with victories. Blackett won her fifth straight singles match with her victory over Jones (Troy) at No. 4 singles, 6-3, 6-3. Troy added one more win as Jouanin (Troy) defeated Bond at No. 5 singles, 6-2, 2-6, 6-3, before Narra closed out the match with a win for Southern Miss, defeating Bares (Troy) at No. 3 singles, 1-6, 7-5, 6-4.
For the spring singles season, Blackett carries a team-best 8-4 record, followed by Price (8-5), Narra (7-5), Ulrich (4-6), Kammerer (3-10), Parrado (2-7), Wittman (1-2) and Bond (1-5).
The Lady Eagles return to the court next weekend, March 24-26, to host their third annual Lady Eagle Tennis Classic at the Hattiesburg Racquet Club. Participating members along with host Southern Miss will be Arkansas-Little Rock, Lamar, Syracuse, Troy and West Virginia. Southern Miss' first match in the tournament will be at 4 p.m. against Troy.