JACKSON, Miss.- The Belhaven men's and women's tennis teams will open their 2012 season on the road this Saturday against NCAA Division I Mississippi Valley State University. The 2012 campaign should be an exciting season for the Blazers, hosting nine home matches while playing eleven road contests. Belhaven is looking forward to getting back in the Southern States Athletic Conference Tournament in Montgomery on April 19th – 21st. The men and women were knocked out in the first round of conference play last year after finishing second in the West Division during regular season.

The Blazer men ended the 2011 season with a 13-3 overall record and hope to be in contention for an SSAC title and a spot in the NAIA National Tournament in May. On the men's side, Belhaven returns eleven players with the addition of nine new players who are expected to make an immediate impact. Elliot Clark, Gabriel Prado and Trey Woods are the senior returners. The junior class of returners is Guillermo Chaves, Chris Tapia, Tyler Throgmorton, Jonathan West, Blake Hilgenkamp, Nicolas Osorio and Robby Wright. Belhaven returns one sophomore in Jim Scott, while adding another sophomore in Max Eurisch. The Blazers added eight freshmen, Daniel Duarte, Bryton Hixson, David Mejia, Jefferson Nino, Daniel Prado, Juan Robles, Joshua Saucier and Justin White. 

The Belhaven women posted a record of 14-3 in the 2011 season, after falling short in the Southern States Athletic conference against William Carrey University. Contributors from last season and incoming players are looking forward to taking the next step, which is to contend for an SSAC title and spot in the NAIA National Tournament. The Belhaven women return eight players with four senior players; Kristen Kelly, Mary Carole Kiewit, Rachel Earnheart and Mary Kristyne Young. The Blazers return one junior Natalia Krier while introducing three new junior players; Indi Mire, Shelly Munn, and Savannah Zachry. All of the sophomore class is made up of returners Elizabeth Chrestman, Amber Robinson and Latoya Williams. Blazer freshmen are; Anna Chavez, Kesley Shultz and Marissa Smith.

“The recruiting went really good for both sides,” said Head Coach Levi Patton “For the women's team, we picked up three top players from Meridian Community College and we picked up a top 20 National Player in Mexico, Anna Chavez. On the men side, we picked up several good players.”

“We are losing just one of our starters from last year,” continued Patton. “Everyone else is returning and we picked up Daniel Duarte a top 10 Columbian Player, Jefferson Nino Top 500 world ranked Junior and number one in Columbia, David Mejia, Top 6 Columbian player, Max Eurisch who reached a height of 8 in Germany and Daniel Prado who received a ranking of 20 in Mexico, and Juan Robles a top ten player in Columbia also. The key starters from last year who will be returning this season are Gabriel Prado, Guilhermo Chaves and Nicolas Osoiro.”

“The men's team has a really good chance to make it to the top 15.” added coach Patton “The women's team should start off in the top 25 because they finished last season in the top 25, hopefully going in that 20ish range. The goal is to have a program going into the top 20 at the end of the season.”

Key nonconference opponents for the Blazers are Mississippi Valley State, University of Arkansas-Pine Bluff, and Xavier of Louisiana. Key matchups in Southern States Athletic conference play include Auburn-Montgomery and William Carrey University who both compete in the SSAC West Division while other key matchups rest on the SSAC East Division in Lee University and Shorter University.

Belhaven will open the 2012 season at Mississippi State Valley University on Saturday at 12pm. The Blazers will play their 2012 season home opener on February 10th against cross town rival Tougaloo College. Game-time is slated for 2:00 PM.