By Jeff Craig, Sports Writer
The ACU men and women’s tennis teams will be in action with five games each, all of which will be played at ACU as a part of the 2009 Wildcat Invitational.
The men’s team is coming off a couple of losses at the hands of Lamar and Louisiana-Lafayette. The squad currently sits at 18-4 and held the No. 20 spot as of the latest NCAA Division II national ranking. Head coach Hutton Jones said he sees good progress and has his team positioned to head in the right direction.
“I expect us to get better and to try to dominate, continue to progress towards the end of the year,” Jones said
The team will look to rebound from the tough losses against the Jaguars and Ragin Cajuns and build up some momentum with this weekend’s matchups. The Wildcats’ first test will come Friday afternoon against the New Mexico Military Institute in a scrimmage. Saturday morning, the team will take on the Roadrunners of Metropolitan State, who will come down from Denver coming off a victory over Hasting. Later that afternoon at 2 p.m., the Wildcats will battle St. Mary’s. Then on Tuesday, the University of the Southwest comes to ACU for a 9 a.m. showdown.
Following the conclusion of the St. Mary’s match, ACU will take on Cameron at 2 p.m. in a Lone Star Conference showdown. Cameron currently has the No. 12 seed in the country with its 11-6 overall record this season. Jones said he thinks this weekend’s games will play an important role in determining his team’s positioning down the home stretch of the season.
“We are playing a couple of Division II opponents, and these count more for us as far as rankings go. Our ultimate goal is to be No. 1 in our region and go to the national tournament.”
The women’s team’s weekend will begin Friday at 2:30 p.m. with a matchup against the Tarleton State TexAnns. The Wildcats, the nation’s seventh-ranked team, will be facing a TexAnn squad that finds itself ranked No. 13 in the country. Jones said he thinks both Tarleton’s and ACU’s high rankings indicate the potential for a great match. The Wildcats have won six matchups in a row after a 7-0 loss to the Oklahoma State Cowgirls.
On Saturday, the Wildcat women’s tennis team will square off with Metropolitan State at 9 a.m. and St. Mary’s at 2 p.m. Then on Tuesday, the team will take on the University of the Southwest at 9:30 a.m. and Cameron at 2:30 p.m.
Both teams are continuing to prepare for the Lone Star Conference Championships on April 24-25 in Wichita Falls. Following the conclusion of this weekend’s Wildcat Invitational, the men’s team will have only three more events before the LSC tournament, while the women’s team will have six more events, including matchups against NCAA Division I opponents North Texas and UTEP.
