The University of Southern Mississippi women’s tennis team opened its fall season with a successful two-day run at the Ragin’ Cajun Invitational in Lafayette, Louisiana, according to an athletics release. The Golden Eagles secured 11 victories across singles and doubles matches at Culotta Tennis Center on Friday and Saturday.
Southern Miss finished the event with seven singles wins and four doubles victories. The team highlighted its performance with several straight-set wins and two three-set singles matches.
The Golden Eagles started strong Friday, winning both doubles matches. Sakura Sudo and Pimmada Lim defeated their opponents 6-1, while Kamornwan Kornsila and Manuella Persson earned a 7-5 victory. Sudo carried her momentum into singles play, winning 7-6 (3), 6-3. Lim faced a tough battle, dropping the first set but rallying to take the next two, winning 2-6, 7-5, 10-7 in the match tiebreak. These wins gave Southern Miss four victories on opening day.
Saturday’s matches saw the Golden Eagles improve further. Kornsila and Persson secured another doubles win, and Miranda Xu and Alina Cherniaieva added a 6-1 victory. In singles, Lim completed an undefeated weekend with a 6-2, 6-4 win, while Cherniaieva also picked up a 6-2, 6-3 victory. Kornsila dominated her match, winning 6-2, 6-2, and Xu finished with a 6-2, 6-1 win. Mia Hasashi-Morrissey recorded one of the most competitive singles victories, dropping the first set but coming back to win 6-4 in the second and taking the tiebreak 10-6.
Six different Golden Eagles earned at least one singles win during the event. Kornsila and Persson finished with perfect 2-0 records in doubles, while Lim went 2-0 in singles and added a doubles win with Sudo. The team continues its fall schedule next week at the Big Easy Fall Invitational in New Orleans, set for Oct. 2-3. For updates, fans can visit SouthernMiss.com and follow the team on Instagram and X at @SouthernMissWTN.
