MONTGOMERY, Ala.—Alabama State University Tennis Coach Anuk Christiansz has finalized the 2014 men’s and women’s tennis schedule.
The men’s 18-event season will begin Jan. 18 with a trip to Starkville, Miss., to play Mississippi State. ASU will begin the home portion of its season when they host Stillman College Jan. 25. It will be the first of nine home matches for the Hornets this season.
After road matches at South Alabama (Jan. 26) and Mercer (Jan. 31), the Hornets will return home to host three consecutive home matches, beginning with Feb. 14 against Jacksonville State. ASU will follow that match hosting Florida A&M (Feb. 15) and Kennesaw State (Feb. 16).
ASU will travel to New Orleans where they will face local teams from Xavier (Feb. 22) and New Orleans (Feb. 23) before traveling to Jackson, Miss., to play in the Southwestern Athletic Conference Round Up (Feb. 28-29). It is the first of two round ups the conference will host this season.
Two teams from the north will travel south to face ASU when South Dakota State travels to Montgomery from Brookings to face the Hornets March 11. Northern Kentucky comes to ASU five days later on March 16.
ASU will travel down the road to Troy to face the Trojans on March 21. The match will be a reunion of Christansz and Troy Head Coach Scott Kidd. The pair coached together at Auburn Montgomery and combined to win 12 NAIA National Championships.
The Hornets will end the home portion of the 2014 season hosting Columbus State (March 22), North Alabama (March 26) and the SWAC Round Up (March 28-29).
ASU will have one match in April when they travel to Normal to face Alabama A&M on the 11th. It will be the team’s final tune up before the SWAC Championship.
Most of the 18-event season for the women’s matches will be played the same day as the men’s as part of double-headers, but there are a few differences.
The first difference being the Lady Hornets will play at Mississippi State to start the season, but will be facing the Bulldogs on Jan. 19.
ASU’s women will not face South Dakota State or Columbus State, but will host three different matches. The first will be Feb. 7 when they host Savannah State followed by a home match against Georgia Southern on Feb. 8.
Texas State is the other team the Lady Hornets will face and that will be a home match on March 12.
The SWAC Championship will be held April 25-27 for both teams. The tournament will be held at the City Park Tennis Center in New Orleans, La.
“We continue to strive to build SWAC Championship programs and I am very happy with the schedule we have been able to put together,” Christiansz said. “We will once again have very young teams, but we have put together a challenging schedule to help these young teams grow through competition.”
“We will work to get better each time we go out on the court and hopefully by the end of the season both teams will be playing their best tennis. Playing against strong competition like we have been able to put together should only make us stronger.”
