April 1, 2008

Hattiesburg, MS (UWIRE) -- The Southern Miss women's tennis split two matches on the final day of the Lady Eagle Invitational. The Lady Eagles fell to Troy, 4-1, in a match that was suspended from Saturday before defeating New Mexico State, 4-3.

Troy took the initial point Saturday winning all three doubles matches. Mirte DeBakker and Leonie Guijt won at No. 2 doubles, defeating Sherry Price and Lauren Gutterman, 8-4. Stephanie Vieria and Carolina Jounia clinched the doubles point for the Trojans, beating Alli Blackett and Zoe Lee, 8-6, at No. 3 doubles.

Troy completed the doubles sweep at No. 1 doubles, as Annabelle Bares and Rawia El Sisi beat Stephanie Dellacona and Brittany Serrett, 8-4.

El Sisi gave Troy a 2-0 lead when she defeated Price, 6-0, 6-4, at No. 1 singles. Southern Miss cut the deficit to 2-1 when Gutterman beat Jounia, 6-3, 6-4 at No. 6 singles. But, the Trojans won their next two matches to clinch the match.

Against New Mexico State, Dellacono and Serrett defeated Costa and Marks, 8-6 at No. 1 doubles. However, NMSU took the next two doubles matches to take the doubles point.

Lauren Gutterman tied the match with a win at No. 6 singles, 6-3, 6-1 over Paulina Zuniga. Southern Miss' Ali Blackett earned a victory at No. 3 singles when Stephanie Eusebe retired due to a sprained ankle. The Lady Eagles then went up 3-1 on Sherry Price's 6-4, 7-5 win over Sophia Marks at No. 1 singles.

NMSU pulled to within 3-2 when Aleksa Costa beat Zoe Lee at No. 5 singles, 6-3, 6-3. However, Stephanie Dellacona clinched the win for the Lady Eagles, coming back from a set down to win 3-6, 7-5, 6-0 over Anne Fagegaltier at No. 4 singles.

The Lady Eagles return to action on April 8 when they travel to Hammond, La. to face Southeastern Louisiana at 1 p.m. CT.

(C) 2008 The Student Printz via UWIRE