MOBILE, Ala. – The University of South Alabama men's tennis team will head to New Orleans, La. 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. The winner of the championships will receive an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

USA, ranked No. 69, enters the weekend owning a three-match win streak and a 14-8 mark in their spring campaign. Closing out regular-season play last week, the Jags earned a 6-1 win over Jackson State and a 5-2 victory over Southern Miss.

"I think we finished the season really well," said USA head coach Nick Brochu. "We had a very strong start to the season, and then we dropped a couple of matches that we could and should have won. At one point we had to regroup and practice a little harder. The guys are feeling very good and very excited about playing at the conference tournament." 

South Alabama received the No. 3 seed and will face Appalachian State on Friday at 3 p.m. It will be the first meeting between the two schools.

"We got the third seed, but we were expecting to be seeded a little higher," said Brochu. "They base the seeds according to the rankings, so it's really objective and completely fair. All the rankings in the tournament are very close.  This year's conference is a very tight race.

"We have never played Appalachian State, but I think when you play at the conference tournament, even if you are the higher seed, you don't want to start thinking ahead. We want to take care of business on Friday."

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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