SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The USC Upstate women's tennis team will open up Big South Conference play on Saturday afternoon against Charleston Southern and the Spartans will host Clemson University on Sunday afternoon at the USC Upstate Tennis Complex.
USC Upstate (1-8) is coming off a loss to East Tennessee State on Tuesday afternoon.
Roberta Armani picked up the lone singles win for the Spartans against the Buccaneers with a come from behind straight sets victory over Michelle de Haan.
Last season the Spartans nearly knocked off Charleston Southern (4-4) in the Big South Opener, but came up on the wrong end of a 4-3 decision. USC Upstate's top doubles tandems of
Maria Jardim/
Vale Zarama and
Elin Hellberg/
Victoria Saldh both picked up wins at their respective flights to secure the doubles point for the Spartans.
In singles action Charleston Southern got the better of the Spartans as Hellberg picked up a straight sets victory at the No. 6 singles flight. Saldh picked up the only other USC Upstate point at the No. 1 singles court in a straight sets victory over Filippa Ericson.
The Buccaneers are 4-4 this season and they have wins over Elon, Columbus State, South Carolina State and most recently Davidson. In doubles action the top tandem of Zoe Cauthen and Tiffany Pyritz have gone 6-1 so far this season, the rest of the doubles lineup has bounced around a lot this year for Charleston Southern. In singles action Pyritz, Cauthen, and Liz Williams are tied for the team lead in wins with three each. Pyritz is currently the top option in the singles lineup as she has recorded a 3-5 record at the No. 1 singles flight.
USC Upstate and Clemson are meeting for the first time in nine years on Sunday afternoon. This will be Clemson's first trek over to the USC Upstate Tennis Complex. The last time these two squads met No. 11 Clemson knocked off USC Upstate 5-0 to begin the 2011 spring campaign.
This season Clemson is 9-4 and is coming off a 6-1 loss to Virginia. Earlier this season the Tigers defeated Presbyterian College 7-0 in there only other Big South matchup of the season. Five players are currently in the double-digit wins column in singles action this season. Ali DeSpain leads the team with 19 wins on the year playing primarily at the No. 3 singles flight. Middlebrooks is second with 14 wins as she has spent time at the top three flights for the Tigers. Eleni Louka, Laura Marti and Sydney Riley all have 11 wins on the season.
For all the latest news on the USC Upstate women's tennis team log onto
upstatespartans.com today or follow the Spartans for in-game updates on their twitter account.
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