MACON, Ga. – Mercer University's men's tennis team will face No. 4 seed Stetson University in its first round match in the Atlantic Sun Conference championships beginning Thursday (April 14) in DeLand, Fla., it has been announced. The No. 5 seed Bears will take on the host Hatters at 2 p.m. at the Mandy Stoll Tennis Center.

A five seed is the third-best ranking ever achieved by an MU team since the league went to its current tournament format in 1994. Mercer was been a No. 3 seed in 2006 and a No. 4 seed in 1996 previously.

Mercer defeated Stetson in the regular season, 5-2, in Macon back on March 11. Prior to that victory, the last time the Bears had beaten the Hatters head-to-head was during the 2005 campaign.

In that 2005 win, current MU head coach Warren Woolfolk was still playing for Mercer and ended up being the deciding match in a 4-3 win.

The winner of the Thursday MU/Stetson match takes on No. 1 seed University of North Florida on Friday in the semifinals.  The other quarterfinal Thursday match features No. 3 Campbell versus No. 6 Lipscomb, with the winner facing No. 2 seed East Tennessee State University in Friday's other semifinal bout.

The championship match is slated for Saturday (April 16) at 1 p.m.