GREENVILLE, S.C.- The Furman men and women's tennis programs will gun for conference tournament championships this weekend as the two teams will participate in the Southern Conference tournament in Charleston, S.C. The tournament, hosted by The Citadel, will begin tomorrow with several first round matches. The Furman men and women will not play until Friday as a result of both teams being seeded first.

The men, led by Coach Paul Scarpa, tallied a 16-9 overall record and went 9-1 in the Southern Conference. Although the Paladins suffered a 5-2 defeat at the hand of conference foe East Tennessee State, Furman still managed to clinch a share of the regular season title with a win over Georgia Southern on Friday. The title marks the 13th Southern Conference regular season championship for the Paladins, who also won the league title in 1969, 1972, 1976, 1977, 1986, 1987, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, and 1998.

Furman wrapped up the No. 1 seed for the tournament when Chattanooga defeated East Tennessee State on Sunday. The loss handed the Bucs their second conference loss on the season, thus leaving Furman and UNC Greensboro in first place with only one conference loss each. Furman earned the No. 1 seed by virtue of a 5-2 defeat of the Spartans during the season. A Furman tournament championship would mark the 11th SoCon tournament title for the Paladins.

Coach Scarpa currently holds a career record of 697-422 and could become only the fourth coach all-time and third active coach to reach 700 career victories with three wins and a SoCon Tournament title.

The men open up tournament play on Friday at 9:00 a.m. against the winner of the College of Charleston-Wofford match. The match will take place at the Earle Tennis Center on The Citadel campus.

The Lady Paladins have garnered a 15-8 overall record and 9-0 Southern Conference mark. Furman is currently riding a Southern Conference record 29 match win streak against league competition and has won three straight conference regular season titles. Should the top seeded Lady Paladins take the tournament title this weekend, it would be Furman's fourth straight conference tournament championship.

The women will face the winner of the Georgia Southern-Wofford match at 9:30 a.m. on Friday. The match will be played at the City of Charleston Farmfield Courts.