ROME, Ga. (4/24/24) – The Arkansas State women’s tennis team dropped a 4-3 decision to 13^th-seeded Southern Miss on Wednesday in the first round of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament at the Rome Tennis Center.

The Golden Eagles (5-14) claimed the doubles point, but the 12^th-seeded Red Wolves (8-15) answered with singles victories by Yasmine Humbert, Rebecca Brody and Sarah Millard to take a 3-2 lead in the dual match.

After USM’s Zenn Lim and Suhana Sofia topped A-State’s Anna Grigoreva and Abigail Thurmer 6-4, the Red Wolves’ duo of Brody and Nejla Zukic extended the point with a 7-5 victory at No. 3 over Angelina Blinova and Malannia Vashkevich. The Golden Eagles then took the point at No. 1, with Hannah Chambers and Alyssa Richter winning 7-1 in a set tiebreaker over Humbert and Millard.

Humbert made quick work at No. 2 singles, ousting Chambers 6-0, 6-3 to knot up the score at 1-1, and then Brody took down Blinova 6-1, 7-5 to give A-State a 2-1 advantage. Richter knotted up the team score at 2-all shortly thereafter with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Grigoreva at No. 1.

At No. 3, Millard earned a straight-set victory over Sofia by a count of 7-6(7), 6-3 to give the Scarlet and Black a 3-2 lead. Vashkevich evened the score at 3-all with a 6-3, 6-4 decision over Ariadna Fernandez on Court 6 before Lim clinched the match with a 6-4, 6-1 victory against Zukic.