Feb. 22, 2008

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. ----- The UAB men's tennis team will travel to Hattiesburg, Miss. this weekend to take part in the Conference USA Shootout hosted by Southern Mississippi. The event is a four-team round-robin tournament and results will be a strong factor for seeding at the C-USA Championships in April.

The Blazers (1-1) will play three matches against conference opponents in three days, starting with Friday morning's (10:30) dual against East Carolina. UAB continues action Saturday vs. UCF at 9:00 a.m. before finishing its play for the weekend against the host Golden Eagles on Sunday.

For UAB, the tournament will be the Blazers' first dual match action since they dropped a 4-1 decision to No. 52-ranked Mississippi State on Feb. 3. UAB was scheduled to play at Troy last Sunday, but the match was postponed due to inclement weather.

With only two matches under their belt, UAB enters enters play at the Racquet Club of Hattiesburg and the Hattiesburg Country Club with significantly less dual action thus far than the other teams in the tournament. UCF has played five dual matches (2-3), East Carolina has played six (4-2) and Southern Miss seven (1-6) this spring.

"We're obviously hoping for a good showing this weekend," said Derek Tarr, now in his 20th year as UAB's head coach. "We haven't played in about three weeks, and I hope that's not going to hurt us. We have been working hard in practice. I think the guys are ready and know the importance o these Conference USA matches.

"If we can come away this weekend with success, it will help us tremendously as far as seeding for the conference tournament."

UAB - Conference USA Shootout Schedule

Hattiesburg, Miss.

Fri., Feb. 22 - vs. East Carolina, 10:30 a.m.

Sat., Feb. 23 - vs. UCF, 9 a.m.

Sun., Feb. 24 - vs. Southern Miss, 1 p.m.