BABSON PARK, Fla. (January 26, 2018) – Time to bring out your visors, tennis season is nearly back in full swing for Webber International University.

Webber tennis will open the spring portion of its season this Saturday, January 27, in Savannah, Georgia, as the Warriors get a strong test right out of the gate against one of the highest rated teams in The Sun Conference, SCAD Savannah. SCAD has been ranked No. 5 in the NAIA Women's Tennis Coaches' Preseason Top 25 poll, and is No. 18 in the men's poll.

The Webber women will then compete at home for the first time on Saturday, February 3, against Broward College while the first home match for the men's team will be on Saturday, February 10, against Keiser University, which was ranked No. 3 in the country in both the men's and the women's preseason coaches' polls.

Other Sun Conference teams to earn a ranking in the national poll include No. 22 College of Coastal Georgia and No. 25 Saint Thomas University on the women's side, and No. 15 Coastal Georgia on the men's side.

New Head Coach Otis Cutshaw joins the Warriors from NCAA Division-II Davis and Elkins College in Elkins, West Virginia, where he both played and coached. As head coach of the Senators' men's and women's tennis teams, Cutshaw won seven Great Midwest Athletic Conference Championships (4 men; 3 women) and five conference Coach of the Year awards in only nine seasons, and he had a total of 27 first-team all-conference players.

Last year, Webber's women's tennis team went 2-9 while the men's team went 0-12 as both teams competed with a limited number of athletes. Coach Cutshaw, a former professional tennis player ranked as high as 30th in the country in men's 35's, looks to take the Warriors to new heights as senior Gustavo Fortunato is the only returner on the men's side. The only returners on the women's side will be junior Manuela Vazquez, sophomore Alissa Riedel and senior Juliana Fuentes.

"I came here in July and immediately looked to rebuild the team and the mindset here," said Cutshaw. "I brought a few players with me from my former college and recruited a few more to fill out the lineup. I understand going into the season everyone is counting us out and I don't mind us being the underdog. We are looking to make a little bit of noise and being competitive in The Sun Conference this year."

Newcomers to watch this year for Webber on the men's team include junior Hugo Hasegawa and sophomores Ivan Bonderanko, Matthew Alexander and Kyle Hall. Top newcomers on the women's side include sophomore Jenna Fosdick and freshmen Isabelle Niehoff, Emily John and Svenja Koenig.

"With us only having a few returners and many new players coming in, Webber is going to look like a whole new team this season," added Cutshaw. "This will hopefully help jump-start our tennis program and get this thing started on the right foot. We will have a solid team from top to bottom despite being picked second to last in our conference on the men's side and last on the women's side, which is understandable given the results we had last year."

Historically in NAIA men's tennis, the Webber men rank third all-time in number of appearances in the NAIA Men's Tennis Coaches' Top 25 Poll with 103 appearances throughout their history. Coach Cutshaw hopes to return the Warriors to a similar standard of excellence.

"I don't mind being the underdog," concluded Cutshaw. "That makes victory that much more sweeter. I think we are going to surprise some teams this year, and hopefully being overlooked will give us some motivation to play at our best and compete at a high level to show that Webber is back in tennis."