SU Tennis set for first round bye

Regular season records no longer matter once the regular season is over. And along with post season play comes more intense matches and the threat of being eliminated. So Southern University and every other school competing in the 2008 Southwestern Athletic Conference tournament are back to square one.
For SU’s women squad, square one comes when the Jaguars face the winner of Alabama A&M and Grambling. And for the men, square one comes with the winner of Alcorn and Grambling.
A plus for SU is that along with the top seed in the Western division comes a first round bye, meaning SU gets an extra day to rest and regroup from its road-trip to Texas in which the Jaguars lost to non-conference foes Lamar University, 5-2, Texas-San Antonio, 7-0, and University of Houston, 4-0.
“Our road trip was a good experience for the players,” said SU tennis coach Jeffrey Conyers. “We didn’t get any victories but we got some good preparation going into the conference tournament this weekend.”
SU’s women had major success against Alabama A&M and Grambling in the regular season, beating A&M, 5-0, and Grambling, 7-0, when the schools visited Baton Rouge.
The men defeated both Alcorn and Grambling when the schools visited in the regular season, but both match victories came by a slim margin of 4-3.
“I think we’re going to make a good run at the championships on both sides,” Conyers said.
Conyers’ confidence is in part due to his teams’ undefeated SWAC records, with both (8-0), their work ethics and the Jaguar swagger he’s getting the players to buy into.
“When you get into post-season play, it’s a whole different atmosphere,” said Conyers. “The records are thrown out of the equation and everybody is undefeated.
Once you make it to the tournament, you’re back to square one. That’s where we have to have that Jaguar swagger.”