FORT MYERS, Fla. – As winners of its last five contests, including a pair of Atlantic Sun opening weekend wins on the road against Kennesaw State and USC Upstate, the FGCU men's tennis team (11-5, 2-0 Atlantic Sun) will get to play in front of its loyal fans under the lights, starting with a contest against Lipscomb (9-8, 0-1 Atlantic Sun) on Thursday, Mar. 26 and Northern Kentucky (4-6) on Saturday, Mar. 28, both matches are slated for a 5 p.m. starting time.
 
"We are looking forward to continuing out conference schedule at home," said head coach CJ Weber. "We did a great job on the road, and I am hoping to apply the things we learned from those matches to have better performances in front of our home crowd."

With the arrival of head coach CJ Weber in the fall of 2011, FGCU has become one of the most feared opponents in the Southeast region in three short years. After taking over a program that finished the 2011 spring championship season with a lackluster 3-18 (1-9 Atlantic Sun) record, Weber has guided the Eagles to a steady improvement day in and day out.
 
• 2012 season: 7-10 (4-5 Atlantic Sun). First-ever A-Sun Tournament bid.
• 2013 season: 11-11 (4-4 Atlantic Sun). First-ever A-Sun Tournament win over fifth-seeded USC Upstate in the quarterfinal round, 4-2.
• 2014 season: 12-10 (6-2 Atlantic Sun). Division-I record 12 wins. Program-record six conference wins. Defeated the sixth-seed Mercer in the quarterfinal round in the A-Sun Tournament.
• 2015 season: 11-5 (2-0 A-Sun). Upset wins over then-No. 71 Miami (4-1) and then-No. 72 UC Irvine (4-3).

 
LAST TIME OUT
FGCU traveled to Kennesaw State and USC Upstate to open up the A-Sun portion of the spring season and came back to Fort Myers with a pair of convincing 5-2 wins over two quality programs.
 
Originally slated for Thursday, Mar. 19, at 1 p.m., the match against Kennesaw State was moved to Wednesday, Mar. 18 due to impending weather moving into the area on Thursday, forcing a change in the schedule. FGCU struggled in the doubles point against a very good Kennesaw State team who won 10 out of 13 doubles points on the spring season. However, the Eagles stormed back in the singles, winning five singles points from the No. 1, 3, 4, 5 and 6 slots, all in straight sets.
 
Three days later, FGCU paid a visit to Spartanburg, S.C. to take on USC Upstate. The Spartans entered the contest after an upset win over Stetson in its A-Sun opener, but could not keep the momentum as the Eagles won the doubles point in the No. 2 slot, then won a close match in the No. 3 slot. Going into the singles contest, both teams had their share of momentum, but FGCU, with the absence of sophomore Andres Alfonzo (Hollywood, Fla./Texas Christian University) in the lineup, remained on top throughout the contest to put away the Spartans, winning four singles points in the No. 1, 2, 3 and 5 slots.
 
THE DECORATED DUO
Senior co-captains of Jordi Vives (Barcelona, Spain/IES Ferran Tallada/USC) and Tianyu Bao (Tianjin, China/Bayshore HS (Bradenton, Fla.)) are arguably one of the most successful duos in program history. Bao has produced solid and consistent results in the last three and half years for the Eagles. After transferring from the University of Southern California, Vives has established himself as one of the best players in the Southeast region in his three years as an Eagle.

Jordi Vives
• Second FGCU player to reach a combination of 100 wins.
• Winningest player in FGCU history
• Winningest Division-I singles player for FGCU
• Second winningest DI doubles player for FGCU
• Two-time Atlantic Sun First-Team All Conference (13' 14')
• Reigning Atlantic Sun Player of the Year (14')
• Reached a program-high ITA No. 35 in the 2014 spring season, the highest ranked player from Florida.
• Claimed the program's first NCAA win over then-No. 114 Philippe Tsangaridis of Coastal Carolina in the 2014 NCAA Championship
• The Southeast's recipient of the 2014 ITA Arthur Ashe Jr. Leadership & Sportsmanship Award
• Won total of four individual titles (FGCU Fall Invite singles 13' 14'. FGCU Fall Invite doubles 14'. Dick Vitale Intercollegiate Clay Court Classic 14')
• Currently owns 114 wins (43 doubles, 71 singles)
• Current dual-season trend: 13-2 in singles, won five in a row
 
Tianyu Bao
• Third FGCU player to reach a combination of 100 wins
• Winningest Division-I doubles player for FGCU
• Third winningest DI singles player for FGCU
• Atlantic Sun Freshman of the Year (12')
• Atlantic Sun Second Team All Conference (13')
• Atlantic Sun First Team All Conference (14')
• Won total of two individual titles (FGCU Fall Invite doubles 13', 14')
• Currently owns 108 wins (48 doubles, 60 singles)
• Current dual-season trend: 10-4 in singles, 6-1 in the last seven

 
FEELING THE GROOVE
Junior transfer Ricky Ventura (Barcelona, Spain/University of Barcelona) is putting together an impressive spring slate for FGCU as the Barcelona, Spain native is currently 12-3 in singles play. Ventura finished last weekend on the road with a perfect 2-0 singles record against Kennesaw State and USC Upstate, dropping only six games in four total sets played. After falling against Christian Gonzalez Mendez of No. 31 FSU in the season opener, Ventura has won seven matches in a row, highlighted by a dominating win over Bernard Tefel of then-No. 71 Miami with a score of 6-1, 6-0, before his win streak was snapped against Chris Barrus of UCF on Feb. 28. His seven-match win streak is the second longest in the program history, trailing only behind senior Jordi Vives' 14 match win streak set in the 2013-14 campaign.
 
WHO IS HE? MIKEY B!
After a year of rehab from a right shoulder surgery, redshirt-junior co-captain Michael Beiler (Palm Harbor, Fla./Dunedin HS) is making an admirable comeback for FGCU. As the Eagles' primary No. 6 singles player, Beiler is currently 6-3 on the spring season, highlighted by a dominating win over Andrew Rimington of No. 65 UCSB with a score of 6-1, 6-3. This past weekend Beiler was in a fine form, beating Jorge Wilton of Kennesaw State 6-3, 6-4 and Matt Bennion of USC Upstate 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.
 
#ASUNMTEN PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Feb. 4th          Andres Alfonzo
Feb. 11th        Jordi Vives
Mar. 11th       Jordi Vives
Mar. 18th       Tianyu Bao
 
After an undefeated home-opening weekend for the Eagles, sophomore Andres Alfonzo was named Atlantic Sun Conference Men's Tennis Player of the Week for the first time in his career on Feb. 4. Jordi Vives would earn A-Sun Player of the Week honors the following week after rejoining the national rankings at No. 107, helping the FGCU men's tennis team improve to 5-1 and becoming the winningest player at FGCU in the D-I era. After a 5-1 individual record in both singles and doubles action, Vives earned his second A-Sun Player of the Week award of the season on Mar. 11. Vives finished the California trip with a 2-1 singles and 3-0 doubles record, highlighted by a comeback win against Ben Donovan of Cal Poly. Vives came back from four match-points down to outlast his opponent 6-2, 4-6, 7-5. A week later, Bao earned FGCU's fourth A-Sun Player of the Week on the year after a perfect 2-0 record in both singles and doubles without dropping a set against East Carolina and Southern Mississippi.
 
SCOUTING LIPSCOMB
Lipscomb is currently 9-8 on the season and 0-1 in A-Sun action. The Bisons finished last weekend's action with a 1-2 record, beating North Alabama 6-1 before falling to UNF in their A-Sun opener and SEC foe Kentucky, both by a score of 4-1.
 
Rob Mitchell is Lipscomb's top singles player with a 9-6 record in the No. 1 slot. The sophomore is currently riding a five-match win streak, including a win against Caio Gomes of UNF (6-7, 6-2, 7-6) and Jerry Lopez of Kentucky (7-6, 6-2). Philippe Courteau occupies the Bisons' top doubles line up, paired up with Alex Pavel and Rob Mitchell, Courteau is 7-7 on the season.
 
FGCU is 4-3 all-time against Lipscomb, and 2-1 since Weber's arrival. In their last meeting in spring 2014 season, FGCU visited the Music City and left with a 5-2 decision. The Eagles swept the doubles point, then winning four singles matches despite facing resistance from the Bisons.
 
SCOUTING NORTHERN KENTUCKY
Northern Kentucky travels down to the Sunshine State with a 4-6 record. The Norse will take on Bethune-Cookman and Stetson before facing FGCU on Saturday.
 
Mate Virag occupies the Norse's top singles slot with a 2-7 record, while Christopher Angulo is 5-5 on the season, mainly playing in the No. 2 slot. Angulo and Virag also partner up in the No. 1 doubles slot with a 3-1 record.
 
FGCU is 2-0 all-time against NKU. During last year's match, FGCU traveled to Highland Heights and won the contest 5-2. The Eagles fended off the cold and windy weather to defeat the Norse convincingly.
 
NEXT UP
The Eagles welcome No. 69 UNF on Senior Day for a pivotal A-Sun showdown between the top two teams in the conference on Saturday, April, 4 at 5 p.m.
 
CJ WEBER
FGCU is led by CJ Weber, who has coached 10 A-Sun All-Conference selections since joining the Green and Blue in 2011. In his third season, Weber guided Jordi Vives to a No. 35 national ranking, a nation-leading 14-match unbeaten streak and the round of 32 in the 2014 NCAA Tournament – the program's first appearance. His teams have continually posted winning records and finished the 2014 season a Division-I best third in the conference with 12 wins.
 
#WINGSUP
Fans are encouraged to download the brand-new Wings Up mobile app in conjunction with SuperFanU. The fully-customized loyalty-rewards platform allows fans to check in at each of FGCU's sporting events to earn points throughout the school year toward exclusive prizes that can't be offered anywhere else.
 
FOLLOW ALONG
For complete coverage of FGCU men's tennis follow us on Twitter @FGCU_MTEN and visit www.FGCUAthletics.com where full recaps and results will be available at the end of each day.