MOBILE, Ala. – The No. 74 University of South Alabama men's tennis team will look to extend their two-match win streak in their home opener Friday against Jackson State and Jacksonville State, and Sunday against Stetson.

All three matches will take place at the Bruce David Lubel Memorial Tennis Courts. On Friday, the Jaguars will take on Jackson State and Jacksonville State at 10:30 a.m. and 2 p.m., respectively, and on Sunday, first serve is scheduled for 10:30 a.m.

"It's the beginning of the season and the guys need a lot of matches to get comfortable on the court," USA head coach Nick Brochu said. "We have some new guys and this is their first spring season, and they need to get some matches under their belt.

"We still don't know what will be the right combinations for doubles, so we need to experiment this weekend, especially on Friday and get ready for Sunday. Stetson isn't a team you want to underestimate. They're good, and pretty much the same level 1-6, so we really have to get ready for Sunday."

The Jags had an extended break prior to Friday's matches, having not played since opening the season in Tallahassee, Fla. Jan. 16-17.

"We've trained really hard, and when you go from resting for three weeks over the Christmas break and then going 100 percent, some guys ended up being injured coming back from Florida State. So it gave us some time to heal those injuries, and then we worked on conditioning and being a little more steady on the baseline. When we went to Florida State, we played some great tennis and we struggled in some areas, so we're trying to be more consistent."

South Alabama went 2-1 that weekend, dropping its opener to No. 31 Florida State before defeating Florida A&M 5-1 and Florida Gulf Coast 4-3.

"We've got talent, there's no doubt; nobody denies that," Brochu said. "We've got good depth this year and I really like that. There's good competition between (flights) 5, 6, 7 and 8. Any match I can put someone in and have a feeling they can't help the team.

"We've got guys that are hungry. Tim (Srkala) is in his last season with us and Tuki (Jacobs) is a junior, and you can see those guys are very hungry. They want to make it happen now."

In the only previous meeting between the two schools in 2014, South Alabama defeated Jackson State 6-1. The Tigers put up a 5-21 record last year and currently have a record of 0-3.

USA will take on Friday afternoon's opponent, Jacksonville State, for the third straight year. The Jaguars have won all previous meetings with the Gamecocks including a 7-0 victory last spring. Jacksonville State posted a 12-12 record last year and are 2-2 this season after a 6-1 victory over Alcorn State.

Finally, the Jaguars play Stetson for the fourth time in school history and the first since 2014 when USA defeated Stetson 5-2 in DeLand. Last spring, the Hatters earned a 12-10 record and lost their only match of 2015, a 7-0 loss to No. 24 Florida.

"When you play matches like we're playing this weekend, you need the bottom guys to be leaders," Brochu said. "Regardless if you play a ranked or unranked team, the top two or three players are always good. The difference is the bottom players. We need our bottom guys to step up and win in straight sets fairly quickly and take the pressure off the top guys. Doubles sets the tone against teams like this weekend, so if we win doubles, have our bottom guys on the ball and get ahead quickly, it shouldn't be a problem this weekend."

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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