BOONE, N.C. – The App State tennis team opens Sun Belt play hosting Marshall on Saturday at 1 p.m. before traveling to ETSU on Sunday.
Prior to the match, we will officially dedicate Court 3 in honor of Pam Cook, a gracious supporter of App State Tennis.
Last Time Out
The Mountaineers (6-8) concluded their road trip to Florida by defeating Lipscomb 4-2 on Friday before falling 4-2 to No. 72 North Florida on Saturday.
Ninth-ranked
Savannah Dada-Mascoll continued her hot streak, winning at No. 1 in both matches. Her win streak now stands at 12, the most by a Mountaineer since the 2024 season, when she tallied 16 consecutive wins.
Scouting the Mountaineers
Two-time Sun Belt Women's Tennis Player of the Week Dada-Mascoll leads App State with a 12-1 record at the No. 1 spot. Her only singles loss came in the season opener against then-No. 23 Ange Oby Kajuru (now ranked No. 7). Since that loss, Dada-Mascoll has dropped only two sets, the most recent coming in the first set against UT Arlington.
Fourteen matches into the season, freshmen
Sreenidhi Balaji and
Allegra Hodson are both above .500 in singles. Despite falling against No. 72 North Florida, Balaji recently held a three-match winning streak and clinched the victory from the No. 5 spot against Lipscomb. Hodson snapped a two-match skid against UNF by blanking her opponent in straight sets, ending her opponent's 10-match win streak in the process.
Third-year head coach
Hannah Fetters has 97 career wins, leaving her three shy of the 100-win milestone. She returns six players from last year's roster: Dada-Mascoll,
Ruby Broadbent,
Alexi Cleveland,
Naledi Manyube,
Taya Powell, and
Isabela Romanichen. The squad also welcomed newcomers Balaji and Hodson.
Scouting the Thundering Herd
Marshall (8-7) is coming off a 20-6 season in 2025, where it fell to Old Dominion in the Sun Belt Championship final. Spending time in the national rankings last season, the Mountaineers defeated them in Huntington, W. Va. for the program's first ranked road win. They return five players from last year's squad and added four freshmen to the roster.
Marshall is led by head coach John Mercer, who is in his 23rd year at the helm.
Scouting the Buccaneers
ETSU (10-4) enters Sunday's matchup on a two-match skid following losses to Florida Gulf Coast and FAU on Tuesday and Thursday. The Buccaneers earned a ranked win on March 6 over No. 69 Liberty, winning 4-3 in Lynchburg, Va. That win pushed them to a No. 75 national ranking before their recent losses. Three Buccaneers have double-digit winners in singles, led by Audelie Lesauvage, who is 11-2 at No. 4. ETSU returns three players from last season and added three newcomers.
ETSU is led by director of tennis Ricky Rojas, who is in his 10th year at the helm.
Up Next
The Mountaineers will be on the road for their next four matches, returning to Sun Belt play against Old Dominion on Friday. First serve at the Folkes-Stevens Tennis Center in Norfolk, Va., is scheduled for 11 a.m.
