MACON, Ga—The Mercer tennis teams hit the road this Saturday for important league clashes against arch-rival Kennesaw State. Both teams will be looking to shake off the after-effects of a pair of heartbreaking setbacks by identical margins, with both the men and women suffering heartbreaking, 4-3, defeats at the hands of Lipscomb last Saturday at the Leroy Peddy Tennis Center.

The Mercer women enter Saturday's A-Sun clash with a 2-9 overall mark, while posting an 0-4 mark in A-Sun play. Meanwhile, the Mercer men's team enters this Saturday's proceedings with a 3-9 overall mark and an 0-4 ledger in A-Sun play.

Both matches are slated to get underway at noon at the Fair Oaks Tennis Center in Marietta, Ga. The Mercer women continued to be paced by the play of Lucie Payrat at the No. 1 position this season, and she enters Saturday's match against the Owls with an 8-3 record playing at the No. 1 this season. In conference play this season, Payrat has posted a 2-2 mark in league action this season.

On the men's side, Mercer has been led by Pierre Tafelski at the No. 1, and he enters this weekend's match with the Owls with an individual overall mark of 5-5 on the season, including a 3-1 mark in league action this season.

Tafelski dropped his only conference match earlier this season against Stetson, and he is coming off a strong weekend, which saw him put the Bears in position for a couple of league wins. He posted a 6-3, 6-2 win on Saturday over Lipscomb's Oliver Strecker, while posting a 6-4, 6-2 over Belmont's Renato Antun in last Friday's match.

SCOUTING THE OWLS:

Kennesaw State's women come into Saturday's action sporting an 8-6 mark overall on the campaign, including a 2-2 mark in A-Sun play.

The Owls started 0-2 in the A-Sun, however, have picked up back-to-back victories over Belmont (6-1) and Lipscomb (6-1) last weekend to bring their league mark to .500.

Individually, the Owls have been led this season by Alexandra Apotsu and Vera Skudina. Apotsu has compiled a 12-2 record playing at the No. 2 position, while Skudina has fashioned a 10-4 mark play at the No. 1 flight.

The KSU men's team enters Saturday's matchup with the Bears with an 8-8 overall mark and a 1-3 league record. The Owls split a pair of matches with Lipscomb (W, 4-3) and Belmont (L, 6-1) last weekend. The KSU men have been led by Louis Theodor, Alexander Pena and Gianni Kubin, who are each tied with nine wins at their respective flights this season.

Theodor has booked a 5-5 mark at the No. 2, while posting a 4-1 mark at No. 3. Pena has logged most of his action at the No. 6, amassing a 6-2 record, while also posting a 2-2 mark at No. 5 and he is 1-1 at No. 4. Kubin has a 5-3 record at No. 4, while having posted a 2-3 mark at the No. 5. Kubin's other two wins have come at the No. 3 and No. 6 positions, respectively.