JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - North Florida men's tennis kicks off its home slate against some strong competition in SEC foe No. 63 Alabama, ACC opponent Miami and No. 75 UNCW beginning on Friday morning.

The Ospreys play the Seahawks first thing on Friday at 9 a.m. at the UNF tennis courts with Miami playing Alabama at 10 a.m. Depending on weather and court conditions, the teams will either finish the morning matches or UNF will face off with Alabama. On Satuday, the teams will complete any matches that went unfinished on Friday and then at 3:30 p.m. UNF plays Miami.

"We cannot wait to welcome some top quality tennis programs to our facility," said coach Mark Finnegan. "We hope that the weather cooperates with us. We want to encourage as many people to come out and watch some great tennis. It's not every day you get to host an SEC and ACC team along with a nationally-ranked UNCW team."

LAST WEEKEND WRAP UP
UNF had a tough opening weekend against No. 11 Wake Forest and No. 44 Tennessee, dropping both matches. Junior Jack Findel-Hawkins earned Atlantic Sun Player of the Week after defeating the No. 26 player in the country and pairing up with Zannick Yuern to down the No. 26 pairs duo from Wake. Findel-Hawkins and Zuern were also leading the #23 pair from Tennessee when doubles was decided. Freshmen Sahil Deshmukh and Andrey Alwai both made their debuts in doubles and singles.

THE OPPONENTS
Alabama moved up in the rankings after putting together a 3-1 record over the weekend. Its lone loss came against No. 16 Virginia Tech. Becker O'Shaughnessey grabbed a win against No. 46 Edoardo Tessaro  in the No. 3 singles spot to give the Tide a point, while the No. 6 position also went in the Tides' favor. UA has two other players ranked beside O'Shaughnessyin No. 66 Mazon Osama and No. 106 Korey Lovett.

Miami is currently 1-1 on the season and has three players ranked in the top 125. Piotr Lomacki is the highest ranked singles player at UNF this weekend with a No. 23 mark. Christian Langmo and Max Andrews are No. 70 and No. 107, respectively. With the Hurricanes in the same region as UNF, this match will be especially important to the teams going forward.

UNCW fell one spot in the national rankings this week despite a shutout of Appalchian State. The Seahawks are four-time Colonial Atheltic Association champions and have been in the NCAA regionals five times in the last seven years. Since 2007 when current coach Mait DuBois took over the program, UNCW owns a 132-51 mark in dual matches.

TENTATIVE SCHEDULE
FRIDAY - UNF Tennis Courts
9 a.m. - UNCW vs. UNF (singles first)
10 a.m. - Miami vs. Alabama (singles first)
4:30 p.m. - 1) Completion of morning matches OR 
            UNF vs. Alabama / UNCW vs. Miami 
[coaches will decide to start with singles or doubles]
SATURDAY
11 a.m. - Completion of match from Friday evening
3:30 p.m. - UNF vs. Miami / Alabama vs. UNCW [coaches to decide singles or doubles play]

If there is rain all day on Friday - the match will be moved to Florida State indoor courts and complete any remaining matches that started in Jacksonville and then UNF will play Alabama and Miami and UNCW will play singles first using three indoor courts.

Ranked Singles Players
No. 23 - Piotr Lomacki (UM)
No. 66 - Mazen Osama (UA)
No. 70 - Christian Langmo (UM)
No. 106 - Korey Lovett (UA)
No. 107 - Max Andrews (UM)
No. 123 - Becker O'Shaughnessey (UA)

Ranked Doubles Teams
No. 4 - Jack Findel-Hawkins / Zannick Yuern (UNF)