BOWLING GREEN, Ky. — After opening the season with four consecutive road contests, the WKU men's tennis team will enjoy its first home match of the season, matching up with SIU-Edwardsville at 1:00 p.m. (CT) from the Kereiakes Park Tennis Courts in Bowling Green on Friday. 

The March 2 home opener is the latest WKU home opener since the 2002 season when the Hilltoppers hosted Memphis on March 2.

Friday will mark just the fourth all-time meeting between WKU and SIU-Edwardsville, with the Cougars holding a 3-0 advantage over the Hilltoppers. The two programs met in the next-to-last match of the 2011 season, with SIU-Edwardsville taking the match, 4-0 in Edwardsville, Ill.

Following Friday's match with the Cougars, the Hilltoppers will travel to Nashville, Tenn., to host Detroit at Tennessee State University on Sunday. Sunday's meeting will be the first ever meeting between the two programs and will be labeled as a home match for WKU. The Hilltoppers have never lost a match at Tennessee State, going 15-0.

WKU (0-4) will then travel to the state of Alabama, beginning a stretch of five matches in five days against four different opponents during the school's spring break period. It will be the eighth season in a row that WKU has traveled to Alabama for matches over spring break.

• After four consecutive road matches to start the 2012 season, WKU will host SIU-Edwardsville in the home opener at Kereiakes Park in Bowling Green. The Hilltoppers are 6-4 in their last 10 home openers. Friday’s match is the latest home opener for WKU since the Hilltoppers hosted Memphis on March 2, 2002.
• Friday will mark the fourth all-time meeting between WKU and SIU-Edwardsville and will the Cougars first trip to Bowling Green. WKU first played SIUE in 1994 on a neutral court. The Hilltoppers are 0-3 in the three meetings, including a 4-0 loss in Edwardsville, Ill., last season.
• SIU-Edwardsville took the doubles point and clinched the match with three singles wins in a 4-0 shutout win over WKU on April 16, 2011 in Edwardsville, Ill. Six current Hilltoppers saw action in that match.
• SIU-Edwardsville will be the third Ohio Valley Conference opponent for WKU this season. The Hilltoppers fell on the road against Murray State and Austin Peay in previous two meetings. WKU has gone 4-6 over the last 10 matches against the OVC, with all four wins coming against Tennessee State.

• WKU and Detroit have never met in a men’s tennis match. The Hilltoppers last met a member of the Horizon League in 2003, falling to Wright State.
• WKU will host Detroit at Tennessee State University in Nashville. The site has been kind to the Hilltoppers, as WKU is a perfect 15-0 when playing matches at TSU.
• Friday’s match with SIU-Edwardsville will start a string of seven matches in eight days, as the Hilltoppers will tour the state of Alabama during the school’s spring break. The seven matches in eight days in the busiest stretch for WKU since the Hilltoppers played seven matches in seven days in 1999.

• With four newcomers making debuts for WKU this season and five players total seeing action for the first time, the Hilltoppers are learning on the job in 2012. So far this season, 10 of the 21 singles have been played by either freshmen or sophomores, including a newcomer playing all four matches from the No. 1 singles spot.
• Freshman Brody Freeman picked up his first career singles win against Murray State, improving to 1-2 on the year following a 7-6 (7-4), 6-2 win over Aleks Mitric.
• Junior Lance Freeman played in his 30th-consecutive match against Murray State. Freeman trails on Arul Selvan’s 36 consecutive starts among active WKU players.
• Sophomore Patrick De Seroux saw the first action of his career against Murray State, starting at No. 3 doubles along with teammate Bobby Whitmer.