University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Southern Miss
Sun Belt Conference
Women's Tennis Falls to App State in Sun Belt Tournament
4/23/2026 5:13:00 PM | Women's Tennis
ROME, Ga. – Southern Miss women's tennis (8-10, 1-2 SBC) saw its 2026 season come to a close on Thursday afternoon with a 4-1 loss to No. 6 seed App State (13-10, 1-0 SBC) in the second round of the Sun Belt Conference Women's Tennis Championship at the Rome Tennis Center.
Southern Miss set the tone early and took the doubles point, giving head coach Piyanart Engineer's squad a 1-0 lead heading into singles play. App State picked up the first win at No. 1 doubles, where Savannah Dada-Mascoll and Ruby Broadbent downed Angelina Blinova and Sakura Sudo 6-1 on Court 1. The Golden Eagles answered immediately, with Hannah Chambers and Miranda Xu defeating Naledi Manyube and Taya Powell 6-3 at the No. 2 spot. Kamornwan Kornsila and Pimmada Lim then clinched the doubles point at No. 3, outlasting Sreenidhi Balaji and Allegra Hodson 7-6 (5) in a tiebreak.
App State responded quickly in singles, starting at the top of the lineup. No. 14 Dada-Mascoll, who entered the match riding a 20-match winning streak and is a five-time Sun Belt Player of the Week this season, cruised past Blinova 6-2, 6-1 on Court 1 to tie the match at 1-1.
The Mountaineers kept rolling with a straight-set win from Hodson at No. 4, where she defeated Xu 6-2, 6-0 to push App State ahead 2-1. Broadbent followed with a 6-2, 6-1 win over Lim at No. 5, putting the Mountaineers a point away from the match. Balaji delivered the clinch at No. 3 singles, defeating Chambers 6-4, 6-3 to seal the 4-1 result.
Two matches were left unfinished when App State clinched. Sudo was fighting through a three-set battle on Court 2, having taken the opening set 6-1 before dropping the second and leading 3-1 in the third against Manyube. Kornsila was also pushing through three sets at No. 6 against Alexi Cleveland.
Kornsila and Lim capped the season as one of the most dependable doubles tandems on the roster, delivering the clinching doubles win in the final match of the year. Sudo, a sophomore from Tokyo, Japan, closes out a standout season in which she became the first Sun Belt Women's Tennis Player of the Week in program history back in March.
The Golden Eagles wrap up a spring that featured a 4-3 Sun Belt win over Georgia Southern and the first victory over Tulane in program history, a 4-3 decision on Senior Day at the USM Tennis Complex.
App State now advances to face No. 3 seed Troy in Friday's quarterfinal round at 1:30 p.m. CT in Rome.
Team Stats
#1 Doubles Match
#2 Doubles Match
#3 Doubles Match
Order of Finish:
1,2,3
#1 Singles Match
#2 Singles Match
#3 Singles Match
#4 Singles Match
#5 Singles Match
#6 Singles Match
Order of Finish:
1,4,5,3
Players Mentioned
