IRVING — Conference USA officials announced Monday the bracket and opening-round matchups for this weekend's league tournament in Denton and UTSA will square off against Southern Miss at 9 a.m. on Thursday. The four-day postseason event will be hosted by North Texas at the Waranch Tennis Complex.
The ninth-seeded Roadrunners (11-8) will enter the tournament as winners of five of their last six matches, including consecutive victories at New Mexico State (5-2) and UTEP (4-0) to close out the regular season two weeks ago. In fact, Thursday's match will be the team's first since April 9.
UTSA is led by Miriam Rosell Canudas, who currently is the nation's 97th-ranked singles player. The program's first-ever ranked player is a perfect 19-0 in dual-match singles play this spring. She has dropped just three sets at the top of the squad's singles lineup and been nationally-ranked in 12 of her contests. Meanwhile, Lina Hallgren and Charleen Tiwari have a team-leading 10 doubles victories, but Kylee Kato and Rosell Canudas are right behind that pair with nine of their own.
No. 8 seed Southern Miss (14-7) will come into Thursday's matchup with an six-match winning streak and it has won eight of its last nine outings overall. The Golden Eagles closed out their regular season last Friday with a 6-1 triumph against William Carey. The team features four players that have won at least dozen singles contests this spring, led by Tjasa Jerse's squad-best 18-2 mark, a ledger that includes 11 consecutive victories. Elena Roca (14-5), Carolin Drescher (13-3) and Alex Kitchen (12-7) also have posted double-digit win totals this spring. Drescher and Kitchen make up Southern Miss' top doubles team with a 13-4 record, which has come on the strength of eight consecutive victories.
The two teams have played just once with the Roadrunners capturing a 5-2 decision in the Alamo City back on April 4, 2015.
Thursday's winner will advance to face top-seeded and 37th-ranked Rice at 10 a.m. in Friday's quarterfinals. The Owls (15-5) also have won six matches in a row and seven of their last eight overall.
Below is the full schedule of matchups for this weekend's tournament.
2017 Conference USA Tournament
First Round — Thursday, April 20
Match 1: (8) Southern Miss vs. (9) UTSA — 9 a.m.
Match 2: (7) Charlotte vs. (10) Louisiana Tech — 9 a.m.
Match 3: (5) North Texas vs. (12) Middle Tennessee — 12 p.m.
Match 4: (3) Marshall vs. (14) UTEP — 12 p.m.
Match 5: (4) Old Dominion vs. (13) UAB — 3 p.m.
Match 6: (6) WKU vs. (11) Florida Atlantic — 3 p.m.
Quarterfinals — Friday, April 21
Match 7: Match 1 winner vs. (1) Rice — 10 a.m.
Match 8: Match 2 winner vs. (2) FIU — 10 a.m.
Match 9: Match 3 winner vs. Match 5 winner — 2 p.m.
Match 10: Match 4 winner vs. Match 6 winner — 2 p.m.
Semifinals — Saturday, April 22
Match 11: Match 7 winner vs. Match 9 winner — 12 p.m.
Match 12: Match 8 winner vs. Match 10 winner — 12 p.m.
Championship Match — Sunday, April 23
Match 13: Match 11 winner vs. Match 12 winner — 10 a.m.
