BOONE, N.C. - Appalachian State University men's tennis announced its 2011 slate Wednesday. The Mountaineers will host eight home contests in 2011 featuring match-ups against Southern Conference foes Davidson and Elon. To view the complete 2011 schedule click here.

Men's tennis kicked off their fall season on September 11 with an Alumni match. Due to the weather conditions, the matches were not played, but head coach Bob Lake scheduled a weekend full of events including a golf outing on Friday at Redtail Mountain Golf Club and tailgating Saturday before Appalachian's football game against Jacksonville. The tennis team accommodated dinner for 75 Friday night and sent 40 plus to the football game.

The Mountaineers prepare for the ever-challenging spring season by playing in four tournaments this fall, with three of them hosted by fellow SoCon schools. ASU first travels to the Davidson Invitational on October 2-3. It will then head to Spartanburg, S.C. for the Wofford invitational on October 9-10 in preparation for the NCAA Mideast Regionals held in Chapel Hill, N.C. on October 14-18. The fall season finale is set for October 23-25 at the College of Charleston Invitational.

"These are good tournaments to play in," said head coach Bob Lake. "We will get to see a lot of SoCon players, so the tournaments will give us a feel of what's going on and where we are at in the conference."

Appalachian kicks off its spring season with no easy task as it travels to Columbia, S.C. to face a preseason top 50 South Carolina team on February 5. Last season, the Black and Gold were defeated 5-2 by the Gamecocks, who at the time was ranked no. 42 nationally.

ASU will then travel back to Boone for its home-opener against Liberty on February 6.

On February 12, the Mountaineers travel to face another top 50 team in East Tennessee State. The Bucs finished last season ranked no. 51.

Appalachian returns to the High Country on February 13 to face Division II Lees McRae before hitting the road to face a couple in-state rivals in East Carolina on February 20 and UNC-Asheville on February 26.

The team will head to the Sunshine State for its 2011 Spring Break trip as it will face Jacksonville and Bethune-Cookman.

After basking in the sun in Florida, ASU begins its SoCon play with away matches against The Citadel on March 11 and the regular-season champion College of Charleston March 12. The conference road-stink continues into the next weeekend when App travels to Birmingham, Ala. to face Samford.

On Friday, March 25 the Mountaineers will host UNC-Greensboro, last season's SoCon tournament champions. Appalachian lost in 4-3 thriller last season to the Spartans.

Chattanooga is next on the list for ASU before it takes a break from conference play to face Gardner-Webb and UNC-Charlotte.

App returns home on April 2 to begin a four-game homestand starting with Davidson. During the home-stand, the Black and Gold will face Furman, Georgia Southern and Elon.

The last regualr season match is scheduled for April 16 in Spartanburg, S.C. for a revenge match against Wofford, who beat Appalachian 4-3 last year.

The top four teams in the SoCon will advance to the conference tournament which is slated for April 21-24 in Chattanooga, Tenn.

ASU and Coach Lake have high expectations for the 2011 season after a 12-9 record last year. Lake hopes to improve from last year's 4-6 conference record and make a run for the SoCon tournament.