The UTM tennis teams will open their fall season Friday and Saturday, Sept. 13 and 14 with the annual Skyhawk Shootout at the Skyhawk Tennis Complex.

The shootout, the men's annual kickoff tournament, gets under way at 2:30 p.m. Friday when UTM hosts David Lipscomb.

The women's team will also debut in this year's shootout when they play host to Lipscomb. Women's matches are also set for 2:30 p.m.

The shootout will continue at 11 a.m. Saturday when the University of Evansville battles Lipscomb.

UTM will play Evansville later in the afternoon, about 3 p.m., said Dennis Taylor, UTM head tennis coach.

“The matches this weekend are just to get the players into a competitive mindset,” Taylor said. “The men have a long rivalry with Evansville, so the match with them, Saturday afternoon, should be a little more intense than the match with Lipscomb Friday afternoon.”

Taylor said practice has been difficult because of the heat. “It has been like playing in an oven at practice these past few days, but the players have handled it well.”

“Playing this weekend will be a break compared to the punishment the players have been going through so far this fall in training,” Taylor said.

Hamburgers and hot dogs will be served beginning at 5 p.m. Friday and around noon Saturday for players and fans.

“The weather is forecasted to be nice for Friday and Saturday so all the fans should come out and enjoy Skyhawk tennis,”Taylor said.

This year's men's team is loaded with young talent. Among those on the squad are junior Lucas Tregansin, sophomores Marten Tamla and Gustavo Anzola and freshmen Adolfo Anzola, William Taylor, Daniel McGuire and Oltion Mollaymeri.

“Half of the men's team are freshmen so we are going to have a challenge getting them ready to face some of our more experienced conference teams,” Taylor said.

“The women's challenge this year will be to remain healthy. We have just enough players to make a team so an injury could really be devastating.”

The women's team includes senior Olivia Shipley, junior Ana Bakran, sophomores Elly Shearman, Gayatri Ramesh and Angelique du Plessis.