The men’s tennis team will take their 8-8 record to Houston on Thursday as they take on Rice and Prairie View A&M. Friday, they will travel to Kerrville and will finish off the weekend in Abilene against Southland Conference foe, Nicholls State.

Last weekend the men took on Temple and fifth-ranked Baylor. They split the contest, defeating Temple 7-0 then losing to Baylor 0-7.

Assistant coach Juan Nunez said he views the beating they took form Baylor as a confidence-booster.

“When you take a beating, a lot of people like to see it as a let down and get low on yourself, but the good thing about playing those type of matches and type of teams is that it’s a huge opportunity to raise your confidence too,” Nunez said.

Nunez said talking to the coaches and all the players, they were all pretty excited about playing Baylor who is No. 5 in the country. There were a few close matches and some of our players know they aren’t that far off from victory.

“We may not be able to compete with Baylor, but with teams in our Conference and teams ranked around the 40-50’s we can play right there with them,” Nunez said.

Sophomore Marco Bensley from South Africa said he feels confident after the Baylor match and took a lot of positives away from weekend, as his tennis is starting to hit stride.

“My tennis is very good right now. I won’t say I am playing my best but I am doing what is needed to win and it has been working so far,” he said. “I am a smart player now. Before, I was a little lost on the court.”

Coach Nunez said this is usually the time in the season when the players start to play most natural.

“Your hitting everyday and taking no days off,” Nunez said. “Stepping on the court becomes like second nature, you might not win every match but you will feel pretty good about what you’re doing.”

The men will play in Abilene on Saturday at 12:30 p.m.