MEMPHIS, Tenn. - The Kennesaw State men's tennis team open their spring season this weekend with road matches at Memphis and Austin Peay.  The second-year program will look to improve on last year's 7-12 record as they start the first of nine consecutive road matches to open the 2010 season.

"The team has been really pumped up this week about getting our season started," commented head coach T.J. Greggs.  "We have been doing a lot of really good things at practice and I am looking forward to seeing how we fare against two solid programs."

Memphis (0-2) enters the match with a deceiving record as they dropped matches last weekend to No. 34-ranked Tulsa and No. 25 Oklahoma State, both by a 5-2 count.  The Tigers finished last season with a 13-10 mark after they were defeated in the first round of the Conference USA tournament by Tulsa, 4-0.

Austin Peay, of the Ohio Valley Conference, finished 2008-09 with a 3-14 record. They return four starters from that squad and have added six freshmen to their lineup under first-year head coach Malik Tabet.

"I expect APSU to be a tough opponent," added Greggs. "We had a chance to see some of them play this fall at Chattanooga, and we will be ready for a battle."

Kennesaw State will be lead by sophomore captain Ryan Bouttell, who posted team best 12-3 record last season.  The Owls return several starters from their inaugural campaign, and have also added three freshmen to their roster who will all be in the lineup.

Friday's match against Memphis will take place at 11:00 a.m. CST at the WellWorx Sporting Club of Memphis, while Saturday's match will begin at 2:00 p.m. CST on the campus of Austin Peay.