MOBILE, Ala. – Earning the No. 1 seed in the Middle Tennessee Shootout, the University of South Alabama men's tennis team will head to Murfreesboro, Tenn. on Friday for the fourth consecutive year.

The event will take place March 28-30 at the Buck Bouldin Tennis Center and Old Fort Park. Teams included in this weekend's tournament are Middle Tennessee, Texas-Arlington, DePaul, Southern Illinois, Illinois State, UAB and Troy.

"The tournament this weekend will be very good preparation for our conference tournament coming up in a few weeks," said USA head coach Nick Brochu. "We're going to be one of the favorites. There isn't a team there that we can't beat. We just have to go into this tournament and be ourselves and be aggressive."

South Alabama faced Sun Belt Conference foe Troy last Saturday, sweeping doubles and taking three singles matches in straight sets to take a 4-3 victory over the Trojans. With the win, the Jags improved to 12-6 overall.

"The Troy match was good one for us," said Brochu. "Troy always gets pumped to play us and brings their best tennis. We were aggressive and won the doubles point fairly easily, then our top guys really took care of business in singles."

Sophomore Gerhard Gruindelingh (Pretoria, South Africa) and freshman Tuki Jacobs (Windhoek, Namibia) both enter the weekend with three-match win streaks in singles. Jacobs is 8-2 in his last 10 matches. Junior Daniel Leitner (Niederfischbach, Germany) leads the Jaguars with a 13-3 overall mark at the No. 1 spot.

"Tuki's progression as a freshman has been impressive," said Brochu. "His confidence is going up. He has worked really hard at practice and he will be a great asset for the next few years.

"Daniel has been a great leader for us this year. He has a great voice on the court and also leads by example at practice. Daniel is playing at a high level and keeps increasing his goals. He has the right attitude."

USA has competed in one other tournament this season, the H-E-B Tournament of Champions Feb. 28-March 1. The Jags posted a 2-1 record, including a 4-2 victory over No. 67 Lousiana-Lafayette.

South Alabama will open the weekend against No. 8 seed Texas-Arlington on Friday at 9:30 a.m. at the Buck Bouldin Tennis Center. The Mavericks are 5-10 overall this spring and dropped their most recent match 4-1 to No. 63 Wichita State. Javier Perez and Carlos Arbiza are currently No. 47 in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association doubles rankings.

The Jaguars lead the all-time series with the Mavericks 2-0, but the two teams have not met since USA won 7-2 in 1991.

"It will be interesting to see Texas-Arlington for the first time, especially since they are now in the Sun Belt Conference," said Brochu. "We have to make sure we set the tone in case we play them again in a few weeks at the conference championship. Looking at their results, I think they prefer singles to doubles. We need to make sure we get that doubles point and set the pace for singles. The first four games in singles will be crucial."

For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com, and follow the Jaguars at www.twitter.com/USAJaguarSports. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).

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