HUNTSVILLE – Sam Houston will make its seventh consecutive postseason conference tennis tournament appearance Thursday when the Bearkats take on UTEP at 1 p.m. on Thursday in Miami, Fla. At the Conference USA Women's Tennis Championship.
The contest is the opening match for this year's CUSA Championship, an event is hosted by FIU. At stake is the CUSA's berth in the 2024 NCAA Tournament.
Fans can go to CUSA's Championship Central page for updates and live result links.
All nine league members will participate in the event with the winner of Thursday's tournament opener advancing to face No. 1 seed and tournament host FIU. The Bearkats already own a win over the Miners, taking down UTEP by a 4-3 margin in the CUSA opener on March 13 in Huntsville.
Other first-round matches include No. 4 seed Louisiana Tech versus No. 5 WKU, No. 2 seed Liberty against No. 7 NM State and No. 3 seed Jax State versus No. 6 Middle Tennessee on Friday.
The Bearkats have seen a lot of success in postseason play in their recent tournament appearances, including In 2022 when Sam Houston eliminated Stephen F. Austin 4-2 in the opening round of the WAC event.
In 2019 the Kats reached the Southland Conference tournament finals after 4-2 victories over A&M-Corpus Christi and Abilene Christian in the opening round and semifinals.
In 2018 Sam Houston won 4-2 over Central Arkansas in the 2018 Southland opening match. UT Arlington won over the Kats 4-2 in Sam Houston's most recent postseason play at the 2023 WAC Tournament.
Host FIU is the top-seeded participant. Liberty is No. 2 followed by Jax State (3), Louisiana Tech (4), WKU (5), Middle Tennessee (6), NM State (7), Sam Houston (8) and UTEP (9).
2024 Conference USA Women's Tennis Championship Schedule:
Thursday, April 18
Match 1 – Sam Houston vs. UTEP, 11 a.m.
Friday, April 19
Match 2 – FIU vs. SHSU/UTEP winner
Match 3 – Louisiana Tech vs. WKU
Match 4 – Liberty vs. NM State
March 5 – Jax State vs. Middle Tennessee
Saturday, April 20
Semifinals
Sunday, April 21
Championship Match
