Cougars Tennis Teams Host Key Conference Matches this Weekend

The Chicago State men's and women's tennis teams each host a pair of key conference matches this weekend in hopes of earning a seed into the Horizon League conference tournaments. The men will play Cleveland State Saturday, April 6 at 10 a.m. and the women will host Youngstown State at 2 p.m. On Sunday, it's the men's turn to host Youngstown State (10 a.m.) and seniors Pedro Alvarez and Max Sandoval will be recognized before the action begins while the women will entertain last year's Horizon League champion Youngstown State (2 p.m.). All matches will be at H-F Racquet and Fitness in Homewood (2920 183rd St, Homewood, IL 60430).

In the preseason conference polls the Chicago State men were picked to finish fifth in the North Division of the two-division conference while the CSU women were selected to finish third behind this weekend's opponents, Cleveland State and Youngstown State.

The Cougars are competing as an affiliate member of the Horizon League for the second consecutive season before moving to the Northeast Conference (NEC) with all other Chicago State sports programs next season. 

The Horizon League has a total of seven women's tennis teams and the Cougars, who were picked to finish fifth a season ago, earned the No. 3 seed in the conference tournament and advanced to the semifinals with a 4-3 win over Oakland.

"The women are very confident coming into this season," head coach Jack Barton said. "They really used the fall season to play and build a winning culture to take to the spring. They understand that being No. 3 means nothing until they get on the court, so nothing is guaranteed. They are envisioning themselves as winners, and they are going to use that to compete for a championship."

The Cougars are currently 1-0 in conference play and enter the weekend with a six-match streak. Cleveland State is 1-0 and have a three-match win streak and Youngstown State is 0-1 and have lost two in a row entering the weekend.

Cleveland State was picked to win the conference, earning four first-place votes, followed by Youngstown State, Chicago State, Milwaukee, Northern Kentucky, Oakland and IUPUI. 

On the men's side, Cleveland State was picked to win the North, followed by Northern Kentucky, Youngstown State and IUPUI. In the South Division, Belmont was the top selection followed by Tennessee State, Tennessee Tech, Lindenwood, Southern Indiana and Eastern Illinois. Belmont was selected as the overall champion. 

"The men have an opportunity to go hunting," Barton said. "There's no target on our back so we can play a lot looser and be more aggressive with less pressure. We are still shaping the team to have consistent success for years to come and we have added student-athletes to the team that gained a lot of experience from last season and can potentially make us dangerous if we stay focused."

The Cougars enter the weekend 0-4 in conference play while Cleveland State is 4-0 and winners of six straight and Youngstown State is 1-3 and have won two consecutive matches entering weekend play. Saturday's match will also feature two of the top players in the conference as CSU's Pedro Alvarez is likely to face Cleveland State's Lincoln Battle. Alvarez is 15-3 overall this season at No. 1 singles and will be looking to avenge an earlier loss to Battle (6-4, 7-6 (4)). Battle is 4-0 in league play and improved his season record to 15-7.

About Chicago State Athletics
Chicago State University competes in the Northeast Conference (effective July 2024) and sponsors 16 Division I intercollegiate athletics teams involving over 150 student-athletes that compete in basketball, cross country, golf, soccer, tennis, indoor and outdoor track, triathlon and volleyball. 

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