NCAA Bound!

For the first time in school history, the Southern University men and women’s tennis team has been granted an automatic berth to the National Collegiate Athletic Association regional championship.
The tennis teams received this invitation by becoming the 2002 Southwestern Athletic Conference champions. The tournament was held April 18-20 in Shreveport, at the Cockrell Tennis Center.
The men’s 4-3 win over Alcorn State University gave them their ninth title since their first in 1979. The women earned their fifth title, their first since 1997, over the women of Alcorn State, taking four-of-five games.
The Southern tennis teams, who were ranked number one in the SWAC’s western division, boasts two rosters of six strong players to each team, while most schools in the SWAC only have two or three at most according to Southern coach Eric Street.
Standing out for the Jaguars this season was Benjamin Ncube, a Zimbabwe.
“He is really a confidence builder,” said Street.
Both the men and women’s team took on and defeated Texas Southern University and Alabama A&M University before meeting Alcorn in the final’s match-up.
“I think it’s it that the tennis team is doing so well for themselves,” said Ebony Stemmis, an elementary education major from Slidell. “I hope they represent Southern well in the NCAA tournament.”
The teams will participate in the regional tournament May 9-11. Fans and supporters of Jaguar Athletics can tune May 2 to ESPN at 7 p.m. eastern standard time, to find out who and where the Jaguars will play.