Georgia Southern University’s tennis teams, both men’s and women’s, opened its respective seasons this weekend competing in tournaments, and finished with marginal success.

Women’s tennis

The women’s tennis team competed at the Kennesaw Fall Classic against host, Kennesaw State University, Florida A&M University and the College of Coastal Georgia. GSU participated in three singles flights and three doubles flights.

GSU seniors Paola Garrido and Caitlin Kitchen were the only pair to win a doubles draw, as they reeled off three straight wins defeating KSU’s Virginie Stein and Blair LaSure 8-5 in the finals.

Sophomores Stephanie Woods and Mary Phillips Smith made it to the finals but came up short losing 8-4 against KSU’s Jana Heukinghaus and Alexandra Apostu.

GSU did not fair as well in the singles matches. Junior Jordana Klein made it to the finals, only to lose to KSU’s Stein.

The next time you can see the women’s tennis team play is Oct. 18-21 at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Regional Tournament in Athens, Ga. 

Men’s tennis

Things were not much better for the men’s tennis team as it traveled to Athens to compete in the Southern Intercollegiates against players from the College of Charleston, Liberty University, Furman University, the University of Georgia and Stetson University.

Sophomore Rayane Djouad was one of three Eagles to win a singles match. Djouad defeated Oliver Lewis, of CofC, 6-3, 6-4. Senior Oliver Webb picked up a win against Matt Browne of Furman 6-7(2), 6-4, 1-0(5).

The doubles matches were only successful for Djouad and Webb, who picked up a win over Stetson, before losing to the No.2 team in the country, Hernus Pieters and Ben Wagland of UGA.

“Overall, our results were disappointing this weekend,” men’s tennis head coach Nick Ziezula said in a news release. “As a whole we didn’t convert enough break points to earn more wins. I was proud of the way we competed and that we remained focused on the goals that we have worked on over the last weeks of practice.”

The men will compete in the Georgia State Invitational this weekend in Atlanta.