This will be the third season the programs have been under the tutelage of head coach Anuk Christiansz and his assistant Richard Seman.  Christiansz has not only brought in more players he has upgraded the schedule which he hopes will help his team down the road.
 
"We know what we are going up against this weekend," Christiansz said.  "Mississippi State has one of the top men's teams in the nation and their women have shown a lot of improvement over the past few years."
 
"This is the type of matches I love for our players to compete in.  I get to see how they compete against some of the top players in the nation and I know this will make us a better team once we get into conference action."
 
ASU is coming off a year which saw them finish 6-13 overall and 2-3 in conference action, finishing fourth.  They Hornets advanced into the semifinals of the SWAC Tournament after defeating Alabama A&M in the tournament's first round.
 
Three players are returning from last season.  Jarred Thompson and Roderick Williams both saw plenty of action during their first season and Stafan Vognic returns for his third season, looking to add to his 14 singles wins and 11 wins in doubles competition.
 
The Hornets will have five first-year players that will add a lot of talent to the team.  Ronald Mataba and Adam Coyne redshirted last season and will be exciting players to watch.  Dylan Cleary, Takura Mlambo and Digvijay Narvka are new players and could help this team make a move towards the top of the SWAC standings.
 
"On the men's side I feel we have a solid core of guys and I can see some big improvements coming along," Christiansz said.  "This group of guys is going to be here four years and they are giving us a good base to build from."
 
The Bulldogs finished the 2013 season ranked 11^th in the nation and enter 2014 ranked 14^th.  They are led by two nationally-ranked players.  Malte Stropp is ranked 39^th and Florian Lakat 63^rd.  The doubles team of Stropp and Jordan Angus are the 52^nd ranked doubles team in all of college tennis.
 
The Lady Hornets have five returning players from last year's team which finished 4-16 overall and 2-5 in conference play.  Arantxia Wijngaarde leads five returners that have a year of collegiate action under their belt.
 
Nathalie Lorenco is the lone third-year member for ASU, but she has had multiple injuries during her career and is looking to play pain free.  If she can return to her pre-injury form, she could be a force for the Lady Hornets.
 
Pauline Denis, Brianna Fairly and Melissa Telfer make up the remaining returners from the 2013 team, which added three new players this season.  Irina Cvjovic, Giovanna Lombardi and Brankica Orlovic have been added to the roster which hopes to be much stronger than they were a year ago.
 
"We have come a long way on the women's side, but we have a long way to go," Christiansz said.  "We now have a full roster that we are able to work with each day and they will get better, but again, we have a long way to go."
 
The Lady Hornets will face an improving Mississippi State team which finished 9-14 last year and has five returners from that team.  Georgiana Patrasc is the leader of the Lady Bulldogs as she enters the season the 84^th ranked player in the nation.
 
With the new players Christiansz has brought in and the tough schedule there is a lot of excitement at the Olean Black Underwood Tennis Center for the start of the season.
 
"I am really excited about this season and to see how many steps forward we can take," Christiansz said.  "Last season on both teams we lacked depth and with a program like ours we don't have a lot of tennis tradition so it is going to take a lot to build it.   But that is part of the excitement I have about these programs, is every year we are getting better."