DU Pioneer men’s tennis is playing at the Sun Belt conference championships starting today.

After losing in the first round last year to Middle Tennessee, the Pioneers want to redeem themselves with at least a first round win this year.

Again, the men will take on Middle Tennessee in the first round, but have good reason to believe that the outcome will be much different this time around.

Last year DU entered the tournament seeded seventh out of eight teams, having to play the second seed Tennessee.

This year the men are ranked higher and have higher expectations.

“Last year before conference we faced New Mexico State and Arkansas-Little Rock, which are both in our conference, and lost both,” said sophomore Jason Tan.

“This year we beat both of them big for the first time,” added Tan. “This has helped us earn a higher seeding and given us more hope.”

For tennis, the Sun Belt tournament consists of eight teams, where No. 1 plays No. 8 in the first round; No. 2 plays No. 7 and so on. Six singles matches are played also.

Each counts for a single point while three doubles matches are played and the team that wins two or all of the doubles matches earns the one “doubles point.”

Last year, DU finished the regular season with a record of nine wins and 14 losses and finished seventh in the Sun Belt tournament.

This year, DU improved to a 14-7 record and is poised to do well this week.

“We started off the season slow with two losses, one against Brown, who is really good. Then we started to play better,” Tan said. “We’re a better team than last year and have more potential to win our conference.”