NEW ORLEANS - The University of New Orleans men's and
women's tennis teams announced their 2008-09 schedule on Tuesday morning in
anticipation for their return after a three-year hiatus.
The Privateer tennis team's fall tournament schedule will
include stops at the Fall Blue-Gray Classic in Montgomery, Ala.
and the ULL Pepsi Invitational before playing in their respective ITA regional
events, with the women competing at Texas Christian and the men at Texas
A&M.
“It will be interesting to see where we stand this fall,”
said head coach Burzis Kanga. “We are the unknown team, the new team on the
block and this will be an opportunity to see how we compete against some of the
better teams in the region”.
After a three-month lay off, the Privateer tennis teams will
begin their dual season with the men opening on the road on Jan. 24 at South Alabama, the defending Sun Belt Conference
Champions. Last spring, the Jaguars advanced to the second round of the NCAAs
after defeating No. 21 Alabama.
USA
is the first of four NCAA tournament teams from a year ago as the Privateer men
will host Samford (Feb. 20) and Southern (Mar. 14) in addition to a road
contest at LSU (Feb. 28).
The remainder of the men's schedule is full of in-state
rivals including home contests against Nicholls
State (Jan. 28), Grambling (Jan. 31),
Louisiana-Lafayette (Feb. 6), Southeastern Louisiana
(Feb. 11), Xavier (Mar. 6) and Southern (Mar. 14).
The women's team will kick off their spring schedule with a
home match on Jan. 22 against crosstown rival Tulane, who also reinstated their
tennis program this year.
Along the way to the conference tournament, the Privateer
women will host 14 home matches at the University
Tennis Center including a match against NCAA participant Alcorn State (Feb. 4).
Sun Belt rivals Louisiana-Lafayette (Jan. 31) and Arkansas State (Mar. 7) highlight the home slate that
includes intersectional duals against Austin Peay (Mar. 8) Illinois
State (Mar. 11), Northern Iowa (Mar. 17) and West Virginia (Mar. 18).
Both teams will conclude their spring schedule at the
conference tournament Apr. 17-19 in Denton,
with the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament on the line.
