BOONE, N.C. -- Five fall tournaments and six home matches highlight the 2017-18 Appalachian State University men's tennis schedule, as announced by head coach Bob Lake on Wednesday.
The Mountaineers are coming off another winning season with a 12-9 mark for back-to-back winning campaigns for the first time since the 2011-12 seasons. Appalachian returns six of eight athletes on the roster including four in Scott Webster, Milo Bargeron, Alex Pavkovich and Alex Brea. The quartet made up four of the six Mountaineers in the singles lineup and two of the three doubles tandems.
"We have a very good group of returners and an excellent class of freshmen this season," Lake said. " The schedule we put together will prepare them for an always tough Sun Belt Tournament. Our goals are to be competitive, have a winning season and make a deep run in the conference tournament, and I fully believe we're capable of achieving the goals that we set for ourselves."
Appalachian will play in five fall tournaments that began last weekend with the UNCW Tournament. The Mountaineers will then head to Coastal Carolina this weekend followed by the Master's Tournament (9/21-9/24) and the ITA Regionals from 10/11-10/15 in Cary, N.C.
App will conclude the fall campaign with the College of Charleston Tournament in Charleston, S.C. during the final weekend in October.
Appalachian will start the spring slate with a pair of road contests against UNCW (1/20)) and USC Upsate (1/27) before its home opener against Lees-McRae (1/28 - 9 a.m.) and North Carolina A&T (1/28 3- p.m.) in a round-robin style tournament. App will then host NC Central four days later in its first match in February.
Four consecutive road matches will ensue with App traveling to Dillon, S.C. for a Saturday matinee against Presbyterian, and will be followed up with matches against Eastern Kentucky (2/10), Xavier (2/11) and Elon (2/17). The Black and Gold returns home to face UNC Asheville on 2/24.
Before going on its annual Spring Break tour, the Apps will make the short trip to Boiling Springs for a contest against Gardner-Webb. The tour in Florida will include three matches against Stetson (3/4), Mercer (3/5) and Bethune-Cookman (3/7).
App will face College of Charleston (2/16) and The Citadel (3/17) before playing a noon home contest against Coastal Carolina (3/25) in the first of two Sun Belt matches this season. The Mountaineers will battle UNCG on 3/27 before hitting the road to Statesboro for a clash against arichrival Georgia Southern.
The Mountaineers will end the regular season against Winthrop for Senior Day on 4/1. All home events will be played at the Deer Valley Racquet Club or the Boone Courts behind Kidd Brewer Stadium.
