ABILENE – Abilene Christian's 14th-ranked men's tennis team (10-10) is back in action this weekend with matches scheduled for Saturday and Sunday at No. 17 Texas, No. 48 St. Mary's and Texas-San Antonio.
The Wildcats (10-10) will first play a televised match vs. the Longhorns at Austin's Penick-Allison Tennis Center Saturday at 1 p.m. The dual will be shown live on
The Longhorn Network and replayed at 9 p.m. The Longhorn Network is available through Grande Communications (Channel 29 or 829), Verizon FiOS TV (79 or 579), AT&T U-verse (609 and 1609) and Google Fiber TV.
On Sunday, ACU will play a doubleheader in San Antonio vs. the Rattlers (9 a.m.) and Roadrunners (2:30 p.m.). The Wildcats defeated their regional foes from St. Mary's last year, 9-0, but haven't faced UTSA since 2010 when they lost 7-0.
Members of the Western Athletic Conference, the 7-7 Roadrunners come into this weekend having lost four of their last five matches. The Rattlers, meanwhile, are 8-4 and will take on Drury and St. Edward's this week prior to facing the Wildcats.
ACU lost its fourth-straight match against a nationally ranked opponent Wednesday at No. 31 Midwestern State (L, 5-4) in dropping back to .500 on the season; however, it's worth noting that the Wildcats played without their No. 1 player,
Hans Hach.
The coaches expect Hach, who is the No. 2 player in NCAA Division II, back on the courts this weekend for possible rematch with the Longhorn's 43rd-ranked player Soren Hess-Olesen. Hach and Hess-Olesen last faced each other at the 2011 Racquet Club Collegiate Invitational in Midland, Texas, with Hess-Olesen winning, 6-2, 6-1.
Hess-Olesen is UT's top-line player and is joined in the Longhorn lineup by one other nationally ranked player – 82nd-ranked Daniel Whitehead.
Whitehead also comprises one half of Texas' 76th-ranked doubles team with Sudanwa Sitaram, while Chris Camillone and David Holiner are ranked 19th.
Texas (10-5) hasn't played since last Friday when it dropped a 5-2 home decision to the defending national champions from No. 1 Virginia. The Longhorns' defeat snapped a four-game winning streak, which included victories over USF, Penn State, Michigan and North Carolina.
The Longhorns will play host to Rice late Saturday afternoon following their match with ACU.
