New Orleans - The New Orleans Privateers men's tennis team (2-3) returns home to the University Tennis Center to square off against the Jackson State Tigers on Thursday. The match will begin in tandem with the women's match also against Jackson State at 1 p.m.
The Privateers are coming off an 0-2 weekend against stiff competition. New Orleans played two matches in Tallahassee with one of those coming against a Florida State squad that is ranked in the top 25 in the country.
"Every match we play moving forward will require us to be totally prepared," said Coach
Burzis Kanga. "Our preparation is going to be the key to our success. We're playing a good Jackson State team who will compete for their conference."
The Privateers will begin a busy month of March. The bout against Jackson State will represent the first of 10 matches scheduled for New Orleans this month. Of those 10 matches, six will be at the University Tennis Center.
Federico Boscarino made his return for doubles against Florida State. Boscarino had missed the last two matches against Alcorn State and Liberty due to injury. Boscarino has been slotted at the top spot in singles in the Privateers rotation.
New Orleans has had the measure of Jackson State in recent history. The Privateers have won 13 straight meetings against the Tigers dating back to 1997. In the last seven meetings, the Privateers have swept Jackson State five times. Last year was the first time the two teams did not meet in the spring since 2010.
Jackson State (1-5) won their conference opener against Mississippi Valley State 4-0 on Feb. 24 to get in the win column. Prior to that, the Tigers suffered losses at the hands of SEC opponents, Alabama (twice) and Auburn (three times). The Tigers have used two different players at the top spot in their rotation: Andre Alawi and Stylianos Gkontsaris.
For full coverage of Privateers tennis, please follow
@PrivateersTN on Twitter and
@UNOPrivateers on Instagram, like
/NewOrleansTennis on Facebook and subscribe to the
/PrivateerAthletics channel on YouTube.
