The Optimist

Media Credit: Brian Schmidt

Media Credit: Brian Schmidt

The ACU men's and women's tennis teams will both be No. 1 seeds and hosts at the NCAA Division II Central Region tennis tournaments Thursday and Friday. Both tournaments will be played at the Eager Tennis Pavillion on ACU's campus.

"I'm really pumped for the girls and guys," said head coach Hutton Jones.

The Wildcat men, who are 24-9 overall and this year's Lone Star Conference championship title, will be off Thursday because of a semifinal bye. ACU will play the winner of the Cameron-East Central match Friday at 10:15 a.m. for the regional championship.

The ACU women, who are 24-5 on the season, will face Cameron, the No. 4 seed in the tournament, at 2 p.m. Thursday. The winner of the match will take on either No. 2 seed St. Edward's or No. 3 seed Midwestern State at 12:30 p.m. Friday for the regional championship. The winners of the regional championship will advance to the NCAA Division II national tournament, which is set for May 9-12 in Altamonte Springs, Fla.

"I think we're ready to play," said assistant head coach John Walker. "We should do well, and if we play like we can, we'll advance, but we've got to take care of business, and we can't assume anything."

On April 19-20, both ACU teams fought for the Lone Star Conference championship in Oklahoma City. The men took the title with a 5-4 victory over Midwestern State. The women, however, fell to Northeastern State 5-3.

"If the girls put that out of their mind, learn from it and move on, I think we're fine," Jones said. "And if the guys will just keep doing what they've been doing, I like our chances."

The ACU men have won five regional tournaments in the history of the tournament, the last coming in 2004. The women have won seven regional tournaments in a row dating back to 2000.

Email Freeman at optimist@acu.edu

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