CINCINNATI – The Eastern Kentucky University men's tennis team will face Xavier on Friday afternoon at the Eastern Hills Indoor Tennis Club.
EKU (3-5) enters play on Friday winners of its last two matches and are 3-1 against non-power-five opposition this season. The Colonels have won three of their last four contests since Jan. 15, including a 6-1 win over Northern Kentucky on Jan. 22.
Junior
Nuno Pinheiro enters the week as the reigning Atlantic Sun Conference Player of the Week in men's tennis after extending an undefeated 5-0 record in singles with four individual straight set wins last week. On the season, the Portugal native has a combined 9-2 record between doubles and singles action primarily playing in the Colonels' top three courts.
Additionally,
Christian Cantos Siemers,
Adrian Contreras, and
Ryan Kitchin head into Friday's contest on multi-match winning streaks in singles play. Last week in three wins, EKU student-athletes won 17-of-24 singles matchups and earned the doubles point in 3-of-4 contests.
Xavier (1-4) is coming off a split weekend with a loss to Furman and win over fellow ASUN member, Lipscomb, at home. On the season, the Musketeers have suffered losses to power-five No. 3 Ohio State, No. 7 Kentucky, and Louisville—all on the road.
Through five games this season, senior Ryan Cahill leads XU with a 1-3 record from court No. 1 while graduate Pascal Mosberger is 1-1 from court No. 2. Last match against Furman, Xavier earned the doubles point for the first time this season, however, lost 5-of-6 singles matches.
