The toughest start to a season in program history awaits the ACU men's tennis team this weekend -- and they're embracing it.
The Wildcats begin their spring with road matches at No. 2 TCU, No. 1 Texas, and Baylor in about a 30-hour stretch.
Last season the Horned Frogs and Longhorns faced each other for the NCAA Team Championship, and now they both start the season as the top team ranked teams in the country.
"When we're able to schedule the two teams that played for the national championship last year – TCU and Texas – back-to-back, I thought, 'that is super special,'" said Juan Nunez, ACU men's tennis head coach. "That kind of schedule is something that attracted to me to come here, and attracted a lot of our players to come here."
The Wildcats' match against defending champion TCU begins Saturday at 3 p.m. in Ft. Worth. ACU will then travel to Austin to stay the night, wake up and face top-ranked UT on Sunday at 11 a.m.
If that wasn't enough, after the match with the Longhorns ACU will drive back up I-35 to Waco for a 6 p.m. match against Baylor.
Nunez noted during a match last January ACU junior
Daniel Morozov faced Jake Fearnley from TCU in singles. In June Fernley was playing at Wimbledon, and won a set against Novak Djokovic in the second round.
"Our biggest thing is to win our conference tournament at the end of the season," said Nunez. "Our record is not something I'm too concerned about as long as every match we play is preparing us to be the best team we can be in April."
ACU's first home match is Saturday, Jan. 25 against Lubbock Christian. That begins a stretch of eight consecutive matches in Abilene.
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