STATESBORO, Ga. - The Georgia Southern men's tennis team released its 2013-14 schedule today.

The schedule includes five fall tournaments, including the Georgia Southern Championships, and 21 dual matches in the spring. The Eagles will also compete in their final Southern Conference Tournament on April 16-19 in Chattanooga, Tenn.

"This is one of the top schedules that we have had since I have been here," said Head Coach Nick Zieziula. "I am very excited about the opportunities that we have this fall for individual rankings, and I like the fact that we have a great dual-match schedule all the way through. It is going to help us get ready for conference play."

The men's tennis team is coming off its first winning season since 2009. The Eagles finished with an 11-9, 6-4 record in 2012-13 en route to an eighth-place finish in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association's (ITA) Southeast Regional rankings. Coach Zieziula's squad finished ahead of Georgia Tech and Central Florida, two teams the Eagles will face this year.

The men's tennis team gets its season underway on Sept. 13. The Eagles will compete in the Southern Intercollegiates on Sept. 13-16 in Athens, Ga.

The rest of the fall schedule includes the Georgia State Invite on Sept. 20-22, Georgia Southern Championships on Oct. 4-6, ITA Regional on Oct. 11-14 and Elon Invitational on Oct. 25-27.

"We are going to start off in Athens with a host of SEC and ACC teams, which gives us a lot of opportunities for ranked wins. This is also the second year we are hosting the Georgia Southern Championships," said Zieziula. "Last year, we had a great event at home and with our new facility and all the renovations going on, its a great opportunity for us to showcase what we have here at Georgia Southern."

Coach Zieziula and his team will open dual match play on Jan. 11 at Georgia Tech. The Eagles will play their first 10 matches on the road before opening up at home against Davidson on March 7. The next six matches will be hosted at the Hanner Tennis Complex before the men's tennis team takes to the road again at Chattanooga on April 4 and Samford on April 5. The Eagles will wrap up the season with two home games against Georgia State on April 9 and The Citadel on April 12.

In all the Eagles will host nine home matches and one tournament at the Hanner Tennis Complex. All home matches are free and open to the public.

"As we get into the spring, we definitely like to be down here on our home courts. The atmosphere is going to be great. We are going to have the scoreboard up this year, and I am sure that is going to bring a little more excitement and energy to fans," said Zieziula.

Before conference play starts on March 1 at Furman, the men's tennis team will get a preview of where they stand in the Southern Conference when they face former league member College of Charleston, who is now a member of the CAA, on Feb. 23.

"College of Charleston had been traditionally among the top couple of teams in the Southern Conference. It is a good way for us to gauge how we are doing right before we go into our actual conference matches. We have had a great rivalry with them and the last two years we have lost nail-biters to them 4-3," said Zieziula.

Georgia Southern Athletics provides up-to-date information on all its sports through its official website, GSEagles.com, through social media channels facebook.com/GSAthletics and twitter.com/GSAthletics, and its new "Eagles GATA" mobile app for Android and iOS.