MOBILE, Ala. – The University of South Alabama men's tennis team will head to Louisiana on Saturday in hopes of attaining a Sun Belt Conference championship for the first time since 2008.

The tournament will be held Friday through Sunday at the City Park Tennis Center in New Orleans. The winner of the championships will receive an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

"This tournament is going to be awesome," said USA head coach Nick Brochu. "We have some great teams in the conference, but we're definitely going in determined and thinking that we are the best team. We just have to prove it."

USA enters the weekend owning a three-match win streak and a 17-7 mark in their spring campaign.

Closing out regular-season play last weekend, the Jags earned a 4-2 win over Texas-San Antonio and a 4-3 victory over UAB.

"We had two great matches with Texas-San Antonio and UAB," said Brochu. "Both teams beat us last year, so that was like a little payback and a great accomplishment by the guys. It was surprising that we did not play good doubles in either match. I think we made it a lot harder on ourselves by losing the doubles points. We made poor shot selections and made some mistakes. I was very impressed with the guys for rallying so well in singles and pulling out two good wins. Overall, it was a great weekend for us and a good confidence boost heading into the conference tournament."

No. 71 South Alabama received the No. 2 seed and earned a bye to the semifinal in this weekend's event.  Louisiana-Lafayette, ranked No 64, received the top seed and a bye in the first round.

"We played Louisiana-Lafayette earlier this year, and we won 4-2," said Brochu. "It was a very exciting match. Louisiana-Lafayette is a very powerful team. We just rose to the occasion and played some awesome tennis. It was a great match."

 USA awaits the winner of the Georgia State and Western Kentucky match. The Jaguars face a potential rematch in Georgia State. South Alabama faced both teams in the SBC Tournament last year and defeated the Hilltoppers 4-0 in the first round, but fell 4-0 to the Panthers in the semifinal.

"Georgia State is always a big rival," said Brochu. "We played them twice last year and won during the season, but then they beat us at the conference tournament. We're looking pretty good right now and I think we're a little stronger than last year. We have to make sure that we have a strong start. Last year, the difference maker was the doubles point, so I think the doubles point will be crucial in the semifinal this year."

Admission is free for all matches at the City Park Tennis Center and live scoring will be available for all matches.

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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