Nicholls tennis teams open up 2023-24 season slate at Loyola of New Orleans

The Nicholls teams serve up the 2024 tennis season when the Colonels take on Loyola.

Nicholls will face Loyola in six singles matches for men and women, along with three doubles matches each. Action is slated to begin at 2 p.m. Wednesday at City Park in New Orleans.

“Their coach does a great job. I’ve known Matt (Llewellyn) for many years. They’re usually ranked in the NAIA division and it’s always a tough match,” said Greg Harkins, who is in his eighth season as head coach of the men’s and women’s programs at Nicholls.

The Wolf Pack men are currently ranked No. 23 in NAIA, while the women are No. 11.

“The Loyola women’s team has really established themselves,” Harkins said. “I think they’ve been a Top 20, Top 15 team now going on the last two or three years in NAIA. It’s a tough battle. Their top line, Elly Carpenter, she could play on any Division I team.”

Nicholls will look to solidify its doubles lineups with the Loyola match, according to Harkins.

“On the men’s side, we’re pretty well established, but on the women, we have a little bit more change up there, so it’s just finding the right matchups and getting comfortable with each other on court,” Harkins said.

The Nicholls men will play their home-opening match at 2 p.m. Thursday against Jacksonville State. The Colonels will then take on LSU in Baton Rouge on Sunday.

“Right out of the gate, the first three matches are really going to test us, but that’s good. That’s what we want. The guys want to play those matches,” Harkins said.

The Nicholls women will play at home for the first time on Thursday when they host Idaho at 2 p.m.

“We have Idaho coming, which is coming all the way from the Midwest area. That’s going to be tough,” said Harkins. “By the time we get into March, we start the (Southland) conference schedule. There aren’t any easy matches. I mean, they’ve got a really tough stretch Lamar, McNeese, Southeastern Illinois, the University of Alabama-Birmingham. Then we get back to Incarnate Word, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. I mean, they’ve got a stretch.”

The first conference match for the women will be at home against Lamar on March 2. The Nicholls men open SLC play a bit later at the University of New Orleans on March 13.

The men’s team has set their sights, said Harkins, on being a conference contender.

“They want to compete for a conference championship, and I can say this is the first time in a number of years that we really, as long as we’re healthy, and the ball bounces our way a little bit, we’re going to be in the mix,” the Nicholls coach said.

Sentiments for success for both the men and women, Harkins said, are similar.

“We want to compete to the best of our ability every day, every match. If we do that, we will always be in matches with an opportunity to win,” the Nicholls coach said.

The Southland Conference tournament is scheduled for April 18 in San Antonio.