University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Recapping Southern Miss Women's Tennis Fall Season
1/10/2017 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
HATTIESBURG, Miss. – The Golden Eagles Women's Tennis team started and ended its fall season on a high note.
Carolin Drescher and Alex Kitchen were the first Golden Eagles doubles pair selected to play at the Riviera/ITA All-American Championships in early October. The pair went 1-1 and picked up an 8-3 win against Oklahoma State.
The Golden Eagles found early success at both the Rice Invitational and the Samford Round Robin tournament. The team advanced six out of the eight players to the winners bracket in the first day of action in Houston. Rikeetha Pereira and Tjasa Jerse both ended the tournament with wins.
Pereira and doubles partner, Gabrielle Robinson, finished the Samford Round Robin tournament with a 6-3 win to win the flight 3 doubles play.
The team traveled to Tuscaloosa, Ala., to compete in the ITA Southern Regionals Women's Tennis Championships and was represented by six Golden Eagles. Southern Miss's number 1 doubles pair, Drescher and Kitchen, defeated the number 2 seed of Auburn and advanced to the quarterfinals.
Elena Roca took control in the Regionals and won in both singles and doubles action with Jerse in doubles. Roca won her last four sets and defeated her final opponent 6-4, 6-3 to claim the title. In five matches, Roca lost only one set.
Drescher and Kitchen continue to play as the number 1 team in doubles and look to add another winning season in both singles and doubles after a 129-12 and 26-8 record respectively in singles play. The doubles pair finished 22-6. Roca's early fall season success comes after an impressive 20-6 sophomore season and will look to get back to winning ways come January.
The Golden Eagles start their spring season with two home matches on Jan. 21 against Alabama State and Jackson State on the 27 before traveling to Florida. The team will play 10 other home matches before traveling to Denton, Texas for the C-USA tournament.
