FORT MYERS, Fla. – The FGCU men's tennis team (3-5, 1-0 ASUN) will begin its seven-match homestand by hosting two Atlantic 10 Conference members in three days at the FGCU Tennis Complex. The Eagles will host the VCU Rams on Friday, March 8 and the George Washington Colonials on Sunday, March 10. Friday's match is scheduled for 2 p.m. and Sunday's will begin at noon.

"We're happy to be returning home for a long stint," head coach CJ Weber said. "This is a great opportunity for our fans to get to watch us play a lot over the months of March and April. VCU and George Washington are two very quality teams to get us kick started on all that. We hope to put on a good show and we hope the Southwest Florida community can make it out!" 

Last Time Out
•     As part of the USTA National Campus Collegiate Series, FGCU took on No. 36 Penn State in Orlando on Wednesday.
•     The Eagles were swept 7-0 by the Nittany Lions.
•     Mateo Ruiz (Bucaramanga, Colombia/Oklahoma State) and Felipe Escobar (Pereira, Colombia/Liceo Frances de Pereira/TCU) battled the No. 4 ranked doubles team in the country of De La Bassetiere and Nemeth closely, finishing with a 6-4 loss.
•     Felipe Ramirez (Armenia, Colombia/Florida Virtual School) took No. 110 Christian Lakoseljac into three sets before falling 10-7 in a super tiebreaker.

Scouting the Rams
•     VCU enters Friday's matinee with a 9-5 record, including a 1-0 conference mark.
•     The Rams were on a five-match winning streak before falling 7-0 at South Alabama on Wednesday.  
•     Arvid Noren and Inigo Torre Martin's victory at the No. 2 doubles spot was VCU's only win of the day.
•     The Rams won the 2018 Atlantic 10 Championship in Orlando at the USTA National Campus.
•     In the first round of the NCAA Tournament, VCU fell 4-0 to Virginia.

Scouting the Colonials
•     George Washington owns a 3-4 record and is 2-0 in conference play entering the weekend. The Colonials will take on FAU at 11 a.m. on Saturday, March 9 before heading to Fort Myers.
•     Dennis Afanasey and Ryan Navarro lead the team with a doubles record of 5-2 at court No. 3. The No. 1 duo of Zicheng Zeng and Ben Barnett have a 3-3 record.
•     Individually, Zeng has an even 2-2 record on the No. 1 court and is on a two-match winning streak.  
•     The last time the teams met was at the FGCU Tennis Complex on March 17, 2017. The Colonials walked away with a hard-fought 5-2 victory over the Eagles. Current senior Mateo Ruiz earned one of just two individual wins that afternoon after taking his opponent to three sets.

Up Next
The Green and Blue will host back-to-back matches against UNC Asheville and UNC Wilmington on March 13-14. Wednesday's match is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. and Thursday's is set for 5 p.m.

Follow Along
For complete coverage of FGCU men's tennis follow us on Twitter & Instagram @FGCU_MTEN and visit www.FGCUAthletics.com where full recaps and results will be available at the end of the competition.

CJ WEBER
FGCU is led by CJ Weber who has coached 29 ASUN All-Conference selections since joining the Green and Blue in 2011. In his seventh year, Weber has compiled an 86-73 (.540) overall record and a 32-17 (.694) record in ASUN play. In 2014-15, Weber guided the Eagles to their first-ever ASUN Championship and first-ever ASUN Regular Season title after a program-best 17 wins. In his third season, Weber led 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. The Eagles completed consecutive perfect ASUN seasons in 2016 and back-to-back conference titles as well as a second-straight Coach of the Year honor for Weber. FGCU again won the ASUN Championship in 2017, advancing to its second NCAA Tournament.