Men's Tennis Prepares for Weekend Test

It'd be nice if everyone responded to adversity as the AU men's tennis team has, but running out to a 10-3 record and jumping atop the Patriot League standings. Following the announcing of the future cutting of their program in late February, the Eagles have posted a 11-3 record and a 3-0 league record, tied for the best in the PL with this Saturday's foe, Army. AU's trip to West Point is followed by Sunday's trek up to Hamilton, New York to take on fellow PL foe Colgate, who currently sits a half game behind the league leaders at 2-1. "I'm not going to lie, this is a huge weekend for us. We need to step up and play well and hopefully come out with a couple of wins," said senior star Juan Jaysingh. AU goes into the weekend on a positive note, having beaten Lafayette on Wednesday to run their record to a perfect 3-0 in the early PL season. The biggest challenge for AU will be playing at Army, then driving four hours to upstate New York and playing again the next day. "We played three back-to-backs over Spring Break, so hopefully that will prepare us for this weekend," said Jaysingh. "The older guys have experience with this and we'll try and carry it this weekend." Jaysingh was recently named PL Player of the Month, for his spectacular play since the announcement of the elimination of the program. "I've been building up my play over the past month and it's helped the team," said Jaysingh. "If we win this weekend, it's good for us, but we're looking at the bigger picture, which is the Patriot League tournament and the NCAA's." Ever since their 4-3 loss to Hampton on March 20th, the Eagles have run off five straight victories, three coming again PL teams, to continue their strong play. After the initial announcement of the program's elimination, the Eagles struggled to come together and rally around a school where it would not be playing in a year, but they have regrouped and used the announcement as a motivator. "We're just going out and playing tough and so far, it's worked," said Jaysingh. "I really think that it'll make us better people and a better team." And that better team gets one of its first real tests this week up at Army and Colgate.