Lady Eagle Tennis Team Kicks Of Fall Season
9/14/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
Sept. 14, 2006
HATTIESBURG, Miss. - The Southern Miss Lady Eagle Tennis Team will kick off the 2006 season this weekend, as they travel to Oxford, Miss., to compete in the Ole Miss Fall Classic.
The Lady Eagles return six letterwinners, including senior Grace Kammerer and juniors Ali Blackett, Natalia Parrado and Sherry Price.
Kammerer finished her junior season with an overall record of 11-20 and a dual record of 13-8, while playing in the No. 2 and No. 3 spots for the Lady Eagles. Playing as the team's No. 1 spot in the 2005-2006 season, standout junior Sherry Price enters the fall season coming off of an 11-7 dual record improving her overall record for last year to 14-13. Another one of Southern Miss' standout players this year is junior Ali Blackett. Last season, she posted an overall singles record of 16-7 with a dual record of 13-4. Blackett also played in the No. 1 and No. 2 doubles spots posting a 13-9 overall record and a 12-7 dual record.
The team finished the 2005-2006 season with an overall singles record of 75-19 and a dual singles record of 60-64 while posting a 39-42 overall finish in doubles and a 29-33 dual doubles finish. In Conference USA play, the Lady Eagles finished with a singles record of 8-16 and a doubles record of 4-8. They made an appearance in the C-USA Championship, falling to Rice 0-4 in the first round.
The Lady Eagles welcome four newcomers, including Louisiana natives Stephanie Dellocono from Baton Rouge, Lauren Gutterman from Mandeville, Kellen Murphy from New Orleans and Brittany Serret from Ocean Springs, Miss.
Head Coach Randy Rowley enters his fifth season and is assisted by graduate assistant Martha Montano.
Play begins Friday at 9 a.m. Saturday's action also begins at 9 a.m., with Sunday's finals to start at 10:30 a.m. The tournament will include five flights of singles and two flights of doubles. Other teams competing in the tournament include Arkansas, Georgia, Arkansas-Little Rock, Louisiana-Lafayette, Middle Tennessee, Murray State, North Florida, Ole Miss, South Alabama, Southern Illinois and Troy.