University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Southern Miss
Sun Belt Conference
Women's Tennis Opens Sun Belt Tournament Play Against App State
4/22/2026 11:17:00 AM | Women's Tennis
HATTIESBURG, Miss. – Southern Miss women's tennis (8-9, 1-2 SBC) opens postseason play Thursday at the Sun Belt Conference Women's Tennis Championship, facing No. 6 seed App State (12-10, 0-0 SBC) in a matchup at the Rome Tennis Center in Rome, Ga. First serve is set for 1 p.m. CT with the match streamed on ESPN+.
The Golden Eagles enter the tournament as the No. 11 seed and will take on an App State squad riding a five-match winning streak into Rome. It will be the first meeting of the season between the two programs.
Southern Miss closed the regular season with a pair of tight road matches, dropping a 4-1 decision at UAB before falling 4-3 at Nicholls in a three-set battle across five of the six singles courts. The Golden Eagles built toward the postseason behind a home stretch that included a 4-3 Sun Belt win over Georgia Southern in March and the program's first-ever victory over Tulane, a 4-3 result on Senior Day at the USM Tennis Complex.
Sophomore Sakura Sudo has been the headliner for head coach Piyanart Engineer's group this spring. The Tokyo, Japan, native became the first Sun Belt Women's Tennis Player of the Week in Southern Miss history back in March after clinching both the doubles point and the match-winning singles point in the win over Georgia Southern. Sudo has been a steady presence in the middle of the lineup, while Miranda Xu and Hannah Chambers have each delivered clinching singles wins in key team moments.
On the other side of the net, App State enters postseason play with a lineup built around one of the top players in the country. Senior Savannah Dada-Mascoll, ranked No. 12 nationally, carries a 20-match winning streak into Rome and recently secured the 100th singles victory of her career in the Mountaineers' regular-season finale at Georgia State. The All-American was named Sun Belt Women's Tennis Player of the Week five times this season, a program record. Third-year head coach Hannah Fetters has built around her standout with steady contributors in Ruby Broadbent, Taya Powell and Naledi Manyube.
For Southern Miss, the path starts with the doubles point. The Golden Eagles have leaned on doubles wins to spark their best team performances this spring, most notably in the Georgia Southern and Tulane victories where they opened the match 1-0. Carrying that momentum into singles will be key against a Mountaineers team that is comfortable playing from the front.
The winner of Thursday's match moves on to face No. 3 seed Troy in the quarterfinals on Friday at 1:30 p.m. CT.
