DELAND, Fla. – This Sunday, the Stetson University men's tennis team will once again be in action at Mandy Stoll Tennis Center. The Hatters, who are 5-0 at home this season, open ASUN conference play against North Florida, a team picked just one point ahead of Stetson in the 2022 ASUN Men's Tennis Preseason Poll.
 
The Ospreys enter the match with a 9-5 record, but are just 2-5 on the road, and most interestingly, recently lost to the University of Central Florida (UCF), 4-1, on March 11, and beat Omaha, 4-3 on March 14. The Hatters enter Sunday's contest with a 7-5 mark, and also just fell to UCF, 4-0 on March 11, and defeated Omaha, 6-1 on March 13.
 
"We are excited to start conference play this coming weekend," Hatters head coach Christophe Noblet said. "The ASUN is a solid tennis conference, with teams nationally ranked, and formidable opponents. We will need to compete at a high level for the next five to six weeks if we want to have a shot at winning it all. It is awesome that we get to host the first three contests, and hope to take full advantage of playing at Mandy Stoll."
 
The two teams, selected third (58 points) and fourth (57 points), in the preseason poll will each be competing this season for a spot in the 2022 ASUN Men's Tennis Championship, which is a six-team, single-elimination tournament contested over three days. The top-six teams based on regular-season conference standings will advance to the tournament, being held April 22-24 in Huntsville, Alabama.
 
QUICK NOTES on the Hatters

• Of its five losses this season, Stetson has lost four to teams currently nationally-ranked – Florida State (34), UCF (48), Florida Atlantic (67) and Georgia State (75), while the Hatters only other loss was to South Alabama, who is 9-5.
• Senior captain Diogo Marques has played at the No. 1 singles spot all season and currently sports a 5-5 record, while freshman Tristan Dumas has Stetson's best mark at No. 2 at 3-1, and has won three straight matches.
• The No. 3 spot has seen two players post 3-1 marks, freshman Ervin Eminefendic and senior Clement Hamel, while Eminefendic is 7-2 overall (2-0 at No. 4, 2-1 at No. 5). Junior Sven Thiergard is the only other Stetson player to hold a winning record at No. 4 at 2-0.
• Senior Tim Gennes has been the most successful Hatter at the No. 5, with a 4-0 mark, but senior Fabian Penzkofer and Eminefendic are also 2-1. Overall, Stetson is 9-2 this season at flight 5.
• At No. 6, freshman Sami Ozzor is 3-0 (4-0 overall), while senior Josh Laka and Penzkofer are both 1-0 and Gennes is 2-2.
• There has been a total of six doubles pairings since the start of the year with mixed results, however the best team by far has been Eminefendic and Thiergard, who are 7-3 overall and 5-1 at No. 2 doubles.

"We are deep this year and everyone is eager to compete and perform," Noblet said. "This makes my job a little bit harder, but that's a good thing. We are looking forward to a good week of practice, focusing on our identity and what we can control, so that we can play free and confident on Sunday."
 
Sunday's home match against North Florida begins at 3 p.m., which will follow the women's match, as they are also taking on the Ospreys in their ASUN opener starting at 11 a.m.
 

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About Stetson University Athletics: Stetson University's Athletics Program is driven by a shared purpose. It is what inspires, motivates and binds us together. More than a task, a reason for being. THE HATTER PURPOSE is to create and provide an experience of a lifetime through teamwork and relationships to achieve excellence. This purpose is achieved through five Core Values: Communication, Integrity, Excellence, Value People and Commitment. To learn more about the HATS program and our Core Values, visit GoHatters.com/HATS (PDF).

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