LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Both Bellarmine tennis teams will be in action on Thursday, starting the final three weeks of the regular season.
 
The men's squad (9-6, 1-0 ASUN) will face Butler on the road Thursday afternoon, while the women's team (3-11) opens ASUN action on the road Thursday against North Alabama at 1:00 p.m. ET (12:00 p.m. CT).  The men's team will also take on FGCU at home on Sunday at 12:00 p.m. in game two of its conference slate.
 
The women's team traveled to Kentucky on Sunday and dropped a 5-2 decision to the Wildcats.  A strong performance from Lailaa Bashir highlighted the day for the Knights – Bashir proceeded to win the program's first ever ASUN Player of the Week award thanks to her 7-5, 6-0 win over Kentucky's Ellie Eades at no. 2 singles.  Bashir and Ekaterina Tikhonko lead the team with six singles wins each this spring.
 
North Alabama is 4-8 this season and 0-1 in the ASUN after falling to Central Arkansas 6-1 on Friday.  UNA was picked to finish 10^th out of 13 teams in the ASUN preseason poll, while Bellarmine was picked to finish 11^th. 
 
Bellarmine's men's team has won three consecutive matches and started ASUN play with a 5-2 victory over North Alabama on Saturday.  The Knights are 9-1 at home this season and have already racked up their most wins in a season since joining Division I.
 
Eli Wood is BU's hottest player, winning eight straight singles matches and posting a 10-4 record so far this spring.  Paul Reynolds has won seven straight and Vineet Ramesh has won six in a row for the Knights.  Matthew Nice has the best singles record for Bellarmine so far this spring at 10-3.
 
Butler is 9-6 this season with a 1-1 record in the Big East.  The Bulldogs defeated Villanova 5-2 and fell to Georgetown 7-0 last week.  Overall, Butler has won four of its last five matches.  FGCU was picked to finish third in the ASUN preseason poll and has posted a 6-7 record with a 1-0 start in ASUN play.  The Eagles defeated Stetson 4-3 in their ASUN opener on March 2^nd but have dropped their last four matches.

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