Men's Tennis Schedule for 2015-16 Released

SCHEDULE

NEW ORLEANS, La. – The New Orleans Privateers men's tennis schedule was released with three fall tournaments preceding a 22-match spring slate. The season for the Privateers starts at the USM Fall Invitational in Hattiesburg, Miss. on Sept. 18.
 
The Privateers will also make a return trip to the ITA Southern Regional which is hosted this year by Alabama. Last season, two Privateers (Giacomo Adoncecchi and Timo Kranz) made deep runs in the consolation bracket with Adoncecchi reaching the fourth round of the bracket. Adoncecchi is one of four returners to the Privateers roster this season after a freshman campaign that included a strong fall season.
 
The final fall tournament for the Privateers men's squad will be the Big Easy Classic on Oct. 23. Last season, the men's team took down two brackets, winning the Flight 2 singles and Doubles bracket in 2014.
 
"Everyone will have to step up to the plate. The reality is everyone will have to show up to play and it's going to be a tough fall. We're playing a tough tournament at Southern Miss and then we turn around and play at the Regionals which are even tougher," said Coach Burzis Kanga.
 
Once the calendar flips, the Privateers will open with two home matches against Loyola and Alcorn State. The first road trip will be a three-match weekend in Las Cruces, N.M. before coming back home for three straight matches against Troy, Stetson, and the conference opener against Incarnate Word.
 
March has its fair share of fresh opponents for the Privateers who will travel to face Rice and South Carolina. During the month, New Orleans will also host Lipscomb and Nebraska-Omaha. Three of those four opponents have not played against the Privateers since 2000 and the match-up against Rice will be the first time the Owls and Privateers have squared off since 2004.
 
New Orleans will also have two conference matches in March- a road tilt against defending Southland champion, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and a home bout against Abilene Christian. The month closes with a non-conference match at Alabama State.
 
"I think we have a nice mix of conference matches and when you look at opponents like New Mexico State, LSU, Rice, and Troy, we have it really tough in the spring as well," said Kanga.
 
April starts with the first of two conference matches, a home bout against Lamar on Apr. 1. New Orleans will then hit the road to face two in-state opponents in LSU and Nicholls. The regular season winds down at home with matches against Louisiana-Lafayette, Xavier, and Southern Miss. 

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