Tennis excited for pair of weekend matches in Hattiesburg

By: Caroline Bland Graduate Assistant in Sports Information

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HATTIESBURG, Mississippi — After a sweep against Xavier (La.), the Northwestern State tennis team is focused on its next set of opponents.

Beginning Friday, the Lady Demons hit the road to take on Jackson State for a first serve at 2 p.m. before taking on Southern Miss on Saturday at 1 p.m.

“The ladies worked hard during the break and the first two weeks of the season,” said head coach Jonas Brobeck. “We are ready for consecutive quality matches.”

NSU’s doubles pair (1-1) Dorota Szczygielska and Renske Ubachs fell in the season opener against TCU, but bounced back against Xavier (La.), 6-0.

Szczygielska also bounced back into her singles position at No. 5 between the two weeks, beating Xavier 6-4, 6-4.

Against one of the best players in the NAIA, Ayu Ishibashi bounced back with a straight-sets win over XULA. All players came away with straight-set victories in singles and won convincingly in doubles.

Jackson State (0-2) enters the game after a 4-3 loss to Jacksonville State. He’s had some bad luck so far, having lost 4-3 in both matches so far, losing to Stephen F. Austin in the other.

The Lady Tigers have already seen two games canceled, against Southern Miss and St. Louis.

JSU doubles pair Isabel Benavides and Zeina Shaaban have beaten their opponents in their first two matches of the 2023 season.

NSU enters the game 1-0 against the Tigers. The last and only meeting took place in 2019, resulting in a 7-0 victory for the Lady Demons.

Southern Miss (1-0) comes into the game after a 4-2 win over Florida A&M. Clara Tardivel had a great 2022 season, going 10-0 in singles, splitting time between the No. 3, 4, and 5 positions. This season, she won in straight sets at the No. 3, 6 position. -0, 7-6, in the triumph over Florida A&M.

The Golden Eagles are returning six of their eight singles players from last season, including Ebru Zeynep Yazgan, who is leading the rotation. Last year, she went 7-4 in singles No. 1. Her first match of the season was not over as USM took the win before their match was over.

After the game against JSU, the Lady Demons have a quick turnaround when they face their Southern Miss on Saturday.

“The process this weekend is to continue to develop and compete fiercely against two good teams,” Brobeck said.