PROVIDENCE, R.I. – The spring season for the American Athletic Conference’s men’s and women’s tennis teams begin in earnest this week as the conference continues to establish its place as one of the top league’s in the sport.
 
A combined seven teams from The American (five men’s teams, two women’s teams) reached the respective NCAA tournaments in 2017, and early indications from the fall season suggest that another strong postseason haul could be in store.
 
The men’s side will feature a USF squad that has had a monopoly on the conference championship since The American’s formation in the 2013-14 season. But the Bulls can expect to field strong challenges from UCF, which made a remarkable run to the championship match last year, and Tulane, which has a strong top-to-bottom lineup and is the highest-ranked team in the conference through the fall.
 
The women’s championship race appears to be wide open. Tulsa entered the postseason championship as the top seed last season, but it was No. 7-seeded USF that took home title as the Bulls demonstrated the depth of The American by knocking off the top three seeds in as many days.
 
The addition of Wichita State’s men’s and women’s teams will only add to The American’s depth. The Shockers have won 25 conference titles and made 12 NCAA tournament appearances in their history, including Missouri Valley Conference championships in 2010, 2013 and 2016. Wichita State’s women’s team won the last nine Missouri Valley tournament titles before moving to The American for this season.
 
AROUND THE AMERICAN
Tulane’s men’s team is ranked No. 22 in the Jan. 3 Oracle/ITA Collegiate Rankings. UCF and USF are both receiving votes in the poll. The 2018 rankings will be conducted by a national panel until the conclusion of the ITA Division I National Team Indoor Championships in February, after which the rankings are decided by computer.
 
Tulane’s Constantin Schmitz finished the fall season ranked No. 21 nationally in men’s singles. The Green Wave’s Luis Erlenbusch was No. 46, Tulsa’s Majed Kilani was No. 56, the Golden Hurricane’s Joshua Goodger was No. 82, Tulane’s Tyuler Schick was No. 107, and Tulane’s Ewan Moore was No. 112. Tulane’s doubles tandem of Shick/Erlenbusch led The American with a No. 16 ranking, while Wichita State’s tandem of MariusFrosa/Murkel Dellien was No. 27. Tulane’s Hamish Stewart/Tim Ruetzel was No. 47, while Memphis’ Felix Rauch/Jan Palleres was No. 58.
 
ECU’s Celia Ruiz was ranked No. 52 in the final fall ITA singles rankings. Ana Roman Dominguez of USF was No. 97, while Martina Okalova of Tulsa was No. 122. Wichita State had the highest-ranked doubles tandem as the pairing of Fatima Bizhukova/Gabriela Porubin was ranked No. 23.
 
The American Athletic Conference Men’s and Women’s Tennis Championships will be held in April at the SMU Tennis Complex in Dallas.
 
 
MEN’S TENNIS UPDATE
UCF, which advanced to the final of the American Athletic Conference Championship and battled Louisville to the wire in the NCAA Championship last season, begins its 2018 spring season Monday against No. 9 Florida in Orlando.
 
UConn (2-0), which won its two fall dual matches, begins its spring season Jan. 26 at Delaware before the Huskies visit Villanova Jan. 27.
 
ECU’s dual match season will begin Friday as the Pirates host North Carolina Central. The Pirates went 16-9 in the 2016-17 season and advanced to the second round of the American Athletic Conference Championship before falling to top-seeded USF.
 
Memphis begins its 2018 season Saturday with a home dual match against Indiana. The Tigers went 15-9 last season, when they reached the semifinal round of the American Athletic Conference Championship and battled No. 24 Oregon to a 4-2 result in the opening round of the NCAA tournament.
 
USF, which has won four straight American Athletic Conference titles, and begins its quest for another NCAA tournament appearance Friday against No. 14 Mississippi State. The Bulls’ schedule includes 11 teams that played in the 2017 NCAA tournament and seven teams that were ranked in the top 25 at the end of last season. USF is unbeaten in the American Athletic Conference Championship since the league’s formation in the 2013-14 season.
 
SMU (1-0) began its spring season with a 4-0 win against Abeline Christian last Friday. The Mustangs took all three completed singles matches in straight sets and swept the doubles round to improve to 8-0 all-time against Abilene Christian. SMU is in action Friday against Harvard at the SMU Tennis Complex. The Mustangs visit No. 8 Texas Sunday.
 
Temple opens its 2017-18 dual match season Friday morning against Morgan State. The Owls then take to the road to visit No. 12 Virginia, the winner of the last three NCAA titles.
 
Tulane (8-2), which is ranked No. 25 in the Oracle/ITA rankings of March 7, did not play last week. The Green Wave is back in action Friday against Penn and hosts Middle Tennessee Sunday. Tulane will be led once again by senior Constantin Schmitz, an ITA All-America selection and the American Athletic Conference Player of the Year in 2017.
 
Tulsa (1-2) won its dual match opener against Bryant, but dropped a 5-2 decision to Arkansas and a 4-2 setback to 19th-ranked California. The Golden Hurricane hosts USF Sunday in its only action this week.
 
Wichita State begins the spring portion of its schedule with a trip to the Northeast as the Shockers face Buffalo Jan. 23 and Cornell Jan. 24 in Ithaca, New York, before playing in the Harvard Invitational in Boston Jan. 27-28.
 
 
 
WOMEN’S TENNIS UPDATE
UCF begins its spring season Friday with a dual match against No. 15 South Carolina at the USTA National Campus in Orlando. The Knights host North Texas Sunday as part of a string of five straight home matches to start the season.
 
Cincinnati (1-1) played a pair of dual matches to begin the 2017-18 spring season as the Bearcats fell 5-2 to Purdue before answering with a 7-0 victory against Butler. The Bearcats look to build on last year’s 17-7 season, which saw Cincinnati advance to the semifinal round of the American Athletic Conference Championship.
 
UConn (1-1), which split a pair of dual matches in the fall, begins its spring season Jan. 28 against Siena in East Hartford, Connecticut. Senior Yelyzaveta Pletnyeva earned all-conference honors for the Huskies in 2017 after she won eight of her last 10 singles matches to close the season.
 
ECU went 12-11 in the 2016-17 season. The Pirates’ 2017-18 roster lists four freshmen and two sophomores among their 11 players as head coach Tom Morris enters his 20th season as with the Pirates. Junior Celia Ruiz, the 2017 American Athletic Conference Player of the Year, returns as the highest-ranked singles player in The American through the fall season (No. 52).
 
Houston begins its spring season Sunday as the Cougars welcome Lamar to the Barbara Wallace Winston Tennis Facility. Houston will play its first six dual matches at home. Sophomore Tsveta Dimitrova was The American’s Freshman of the Year in 2017 and was an all-conference selection.
 
Memphis has a doubleheader Friday at the Racquet Club of Memphis to begin its 2018 dual season. The Tigers will face UAB in the morning before taking on UT Martin in the nightcap. The Tigers, who were 11-8 in the 2017 season, will be led by returning all-conference selection Anki Wind.
 
USF, which won the American Athletic Conference Championship as the tournament’s No. 7 seed last season, begins its 2018 campaign Friday against North Texas in Tampa. The Bulls will take on No. 15 South Carolina Sunday. USF was 15-11 last season, but reeled off four wins in four days at The American Championship, including a 4-2 decision against top-seeded Tulsa in the final.
 
SMU began its spring season with the Metroplex Mania event at the SMU Tennis Complex as the Mustangs competed in doubles and singles competition against opponents from BYU, Georgia State and North Texas. The dual match season begins Saturday as the Mustangs welcome American Athletic Conference counterpart Wichita State.
 
Temple’s 2017-18 dual match season will begin Friday with a morning matchup against Morgan State at the Legacy Tennis Center in Philadelphia. The match will be the Owls’ only home date until a Feb. 24 contest against Cincinnati.
 
Tulane begins its spring season Sunday with a pair of dual matches as Northwestern State and New Orleans visit the City Park Pepsi Tennis Center. The Green Wave went 22-7 last season and was the No. 2 seed in the American Athletic Conference Championship, but fell to No. 7 USF in the quarterfinals. Senior Sade Atkinson was a unanimous all-conference selection last season, while Ivone Alvaro was The American’s Freshman of the Year and earned all-conference status as well.
 
Tulsa (4-0) had a busy Saturday as the Golden Hurricane played four dual matches - two each against Arkansas-Pine Bluff and Oral Roberts - and didn’t drop a set in any of them. Tulsa took a pair of 6-0 wins against UAPB and won the matches against Oral Roberts 5-0 and 4-0. All-conference selection Ksenia Laskutova went 2-0 at No. 1 singles and was 3-0 in doubles play to lead the way for Tulsa, which hosts the Hurricane Invite this weekend.
 
Wichita State begins its spring season with a pair of dual matches this week as the Shockers head to Dallas to face Stephen F. Austin (Friday) and SMU (Saturday) at the SMU Tennis Complex. The Shockers’ doubles tandem of Fatima Bizhukova/Gabriela Porubin was ranked No. 23 in the final Oracle/ITA rankings of the fall season and was the highest-ranked tandem in The American.
 
 
This Week In The American

MEN
Friday, January 19	Morgan State at Temple	8 a.m.
	Mississippi State at USF	2 p.m.
	Miami (Fla.) at Tulane	2 p.m.
	North Carolina Central at ECU	2:30 p.m.
	Harvard at SMU	6 p.m.
Saturday, January 20	Indiana at Memphis	7 p.m.
Sunday, January 21	Presbyterian at ECU	Noon
	Temple at Virginia	3 p.m.
	USF at Tulsa	3:30 p.m.
	SMU at Texas	3:30 p.m.
Monday, January 22	UCF at Florida	6 p.m.
WOMEN
Friday, January 19	Morgan State at Temple	8 a.m.
	Wichita State vs. Stephen F. Austin (Dallas, Texas)	10 a.m.
	UAB at Memphis	11 a.m.
	North Texas at USF	Noon
	South Carolina at UCF	5 p.m.
	UT Martin at Memphis	8 p.m.
Saturday, January 20	Wichita State at SMU	1 p.m.
	Wright State at Cincinnati	5 p.m.
	Tulsa at Hurricane Invite
Sunday, January 21	North Texas at UCF	11 a.m.
	South Carolina at USF	Noon
	Northwestern State at Tulane	1 p.m.
	Cincinnati at Dayton	2 p.m.
	Lamar at Houston	3 p.m.
	New Orleans at Tulane	4 p.m.
	Tulsa at Hurricane Invite
all times Eastern