HAMMOND – Armed with a pair of veteran returners and a talented group of four freshmen, the Southeastern women's tennis team will open its fall schedule this week, competing in the Ragin' Cajun Women's Tennis Classic on Friday and Saturday.
 
The tournament is hosted by Louisiana-Lafayette and will provide the young Lions with a tough test against a talented field. In addition to Southeastern and the host Cajuns, players from Southeastern's Southland Conference rivals McNeese State, Lamar and Northwestern State, as well as representatives from Arkansas State, Louisiana-Monroe and Southern Miss
 
Southeastern head coach Jason Hayes recognizes the challenge, but is excited to see his new roster in action for the first time.
 
“We've been practicing hard for five weeks and are anxious to test our skills in competition,” Hayes commented. “We have four newcomers and we're looking forward to see how they handle the first matches of their collegiate career. Our entire team has given great effort during practice and it will be interesting to see how they fare this weekend.”
 
The tournament will be played under a compass draw format with six singles flights and three doubles flights. Representing the Lions in the top singles flight will be freshman Reginka Nychytailova. The Maripol, Ukraine will face Louisiana-Monroe's Sophie Rufykiri in the opening round.
 
Nastya Tokareva, a native of Moscow, Russia, will be the Lion entry into the No. 2 flight. Tokareva takes on Louisiana-Lafayette's Sandra Ahlquist in round one. Mackenzie Oskin of Southern Miss awaits Southeastern freshman Renee Villarreal, who hails from Monterrey, Mexico, in the opening round of Flight Three.
 
The last member of the Southeastern freshman class is Sarah Kriem. The Stuttgart, Germany product will open singles action in the No. 4 flight versus Dariya Dashutina of Lamar.
 
Southeastern's two returners that will be competing in this weekend's tournament are sophomores Adriana Castillo and Morgane Charpenne, both who will be participating in the No. 5 Flight. Charpenne, a Saint-Cyr, France native takes on Louisiana-Lafayette's Juliette Clement in the first round. Castillo, who hails from Guayaquil, Ecuador, matches up with Lamar's Lara Bogdan in the opening round.
 
In doubles action, Nychytailova and Kriem will be in the top flight for Southeastern and open up against the Lamar pair of Bogdan and Alicia Porte. Castillo and Villarreal team in flight two and will start against LU's Carolina Maso and Natalia Mayagoitia. In the third flight, Charpenne and Tokareva pair to face the mixed team of Louisiana-Lafayette's Elanor Bradshaw and Sofia Krsmanovic of Arkansas State.
 
Following this weekend's tournament, Southeastern will take a weekend off before competing in the UWF Invitational on Oct. 19-21 in Pensacola, Fla.