With five freshmen and just three seniors on the team, Georgia Southern’s men’s tennis coach Sander Koning says this year will be more of a rebuilding year.

“They’ve done a good job coming in this fall and just being a sponge, with whatever we tell them they’ve been really coachable, and they’ve been making some good strides. We’ve seen some good progress with all of them,” Koning said.

Alexander Roumpis is a freshman who has stood out for the team so far.

“He had a good fall, he made it to his first fall tournament and he made the semi-finals, beat a guy from Clemson who’s really good,” Koning said.

In his sixth full season as the coach of the men’s tennis team at Georgia Southern, Koning has earned an overall record of 70-60.

The Eagles are coming off of a 15-11 overall record but a Sun Belt conference record of 2-5. GS was strong at home with a 9-3 record there but struggled away from Southern with a 6-7 record at away games.

Koning feels that with having the first six games of the season away from Southern will help the team prepare for conference play later on in the season.

GS has started the season 0-2 with both losses coming against Georgia Tech, with the first game being 0-7 and the second game being 0-4.

The Eagles will be back in action against Florida Gulf Coast University in Fort Meyers, Florida at 5 p.m. Jan. 17 and then will be heading to Coral Gables, Florida to play the University of Miami on Jan. 19 to continue their six game season opening road trip.

Elijah Jackson, The George-Anne Sports Editor, gasports@georgiasouthern.edu