CHARLESTON, S.C. – Charleston Southern women's tennis opens their 2021 season Saturday afternoon as they host Georgia Southern from the Sun Belt.
Third-year head coach
Anca Dumitrescu returns six student-athletes from the 2020 roster and all five of their top-five flights earning a preseason No. 3 vote in the Big South Coaches' Preseason Poll.
Tiffany Pyritz,
Zoe Cauthen,
Luiza Fullana,
Tyler Kirk,
Madalina Man and
Michelle Schmitz combined for 20 singles wins during the shortened 2020 spring including four singles wins at four of the six flights.
Pyritz and Cauthen ranked among the best in the Big South last season boasting an 8-1 mark in doubles play with six of those victories at the top tandem flight. Those two headlined a Charleston Southern doubles lineup that finished 18-10 through 10 matches last season and finished with a winning record at all three flights.
Pyritz and Fullana both earned Big South weekly accolades with Pyritz earning Player of the Week Feb. 5 after a match-clinching win over a ranked opponent while Fullana was tabbed Freshman of the Week Feb. 27 after a walk-off winner over Davidson.
The Bucs also added a highly-ranked freshman in
Khyanna Singh to the fold as the Queens Village, N.Y., native reached a top-120 rank in the U.S. and top-10 in the state of New York during her high school career. Singh also ranks among the top-1900 worldwide on the ITF junior circuit and in the top-300 of the USTA.
Georgia Southern owns the series lead over CSU 5-1 all-time with five of the six matches coming from the Gary Clark Banks Sr. Tennis Center. The Bucs did take the last meeting by a 6-1 margin back in 2012 to open the season winning the doubles point then taking five of six singles matches.
Saturday's meeting with Georgia Southern starts a five-match homestand for the Bucs to open the schedule, a stretch that includes crosstown rival College of Charleston and old Big South foe Coastal Carolina.
