DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - The Owl tennis teams hit the road today to travel to the Florida coast, where they will face off this week in an Atlantic Sun Conference matchup with Stetson on Thursday, followed by a non-conference match with Bethune-Cookman on Friday.

The Hatters (14-3, 5-1 A-Sun) men enter the match having just achieved their first national ranking of the season, debuting at No. 70 in this week's ITA rankings.  The Owl men (5-11, 0-6 A-Sun) enter the match on a six-match losing streak.  On the women's side, Stetson (12-5, 4-2 A-Sun)  and KSU (8-9, 1-5 A-Sun) will face off at noon on Thursday, with the men to follow at 4:00 p.m.

"The Atlantic Sun Conference is such a close race this year," commented women's head coach Brandon Padgett.  "I think if we can all play our best tomorrow, we can stir up some real trouble for Stetson."

On Friday, both programs will face off with Bethune-Cookman squads that they took down last year in close matches in Daytona Beach.  Both BCC teams return most of their players from last season, so the Owls are prepared once again for a tough fight, according to men's head coach T.J. Greggs

"This is going to be a good match for us," commented Greggs.  "Next week we play Belmont, Lipscomb and Mercer.  One of us is going to make the Atlantic Sun Tournament, and playing BCC will be good preparation for these crucial A-Sun contests we have coming up."