March 14, 2003

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - The Southeast Missouri State Tennis team (1-2) will be at Hilton Head, S.C. over spring break to participate in the Hilton Head Tennis Tournament March 18-21. The opposition includes Wichita State, Trinity College, University of Dayton, and Lipscomb University.

The Otahkians are fresh in their season with only three matches played. Southeast came away with a victory at their last match against Bradley University and due to no indoor backup they had to reschedule their match this week against Tennessee State. These next few matches should help prepare the Otahkians for the conference schedule.

The Otahks will lead off against Wichita State at 8 a.m. on Tuesday. The Shockers, members of the Missouri Valley Conference, are currently 1-3. Trinity College will be the opposition on Wednesday. They are currently ranked 14th nationally in Division III women's tennis. Thursday the Otahks will battle the University of Dayton. The Dayton Flyers are with the Atlantic 10 Conference and currently hold a season record of 5-9. Lastly, on Friday the Otahks will challenge the Lipscomb Bison with a record of 3-5 for the season.

"We play a good mix of teams in Hilton Head," said coach Mike Stevens. "Both Wichita State and the University of Dayton have very strong teams. The matches will be good tests to she how prepared we are for the top teams in the OVC. Trinity and Lipscomb both have good programs and those matches should be very competitive."

The Otahkians will be back home on March 29 to take on Eastern Kentucky. The match will begin at 10 a.m. at the Southeast Tennis Complex.