02/06 at 12:37 AM

The Auburn softball team will travel to Miami to begin the 2009 season as the Tigers will take part in the Florida International Tournament, beginning today.

Auburn will play Jacksonville University at 10 a.m. today and follow that with a 2 p.m. game against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. On Saturday, the Tigers play host FIU at 3 p.m. and then play No. 18 North Carolina at 5 p.m. Auburn will close the tournament with an 8:30 a.m. game Sunday against Louisville.

“We are excited about getting the season under way, especially being able to play in warmer weather,” Auburn head coach Tina Deese said. “I think we are as prepared as we can be and we are all looking forward to getting to play.”

The Tigers enter the 2009 season receiving votes in the pre-season USA Today/NFCA Coaches Poll. Auburn went 38-22 last season, advancing to the NCAA Regional in College Station, Texas. The Tigers return five position starters and two pitchers from last season’s squad.

“The players have done a good job of preparing themselves for this season,” Deese added. “They have worked hard. We will see some good teams this weekend in Miami, so we’ll be able to get a good idea of where we stand.”

Auburn is 10-2 in season openers and has won four of the last five. The Tigers’ only season opening losses came in 2003 and 2007. Auburn will be facing Jacksonville, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Louisville for the first time in program history. The Tigers are 3-1 against FIU, having last met the Golden Panthers in 2005. Auburn is 1-0 against the Tar Heels, with the only meeting coming in 2007.

Track & field teams travel to Penn State
The Auburn men’s and women’s track and field teams will return to action today and Saturday, competing at the Sykes-Sabock Challenge Cup hosted by Penn State. It will mark the first competition in two weeks for the Tigers, who took last weekend off.

It will be the first trip to Penn State for Auburn under 12th-year head coach Ralph Spry. In addition to the host Nittany Lions, the Tigers will be competing against teams from Akron, Appalachian State, Bucknell, Cornell, James Madison, Kent State, Liberty, Western Carolina and West Virginia.

“I’m really looking forward to this meet,” said Spry. “It will give us a great opportunity to run some fast times. It’s a fast track. We’re really hoping to take advantage of the facilities this week and next week at Arkansas to put up some good times and get as many athletes qualified for nationals as we can.”

Auburn currently has eight individuals that have qualified for the NCAA Indoor Championships, including six men and two women. Despite the lower number of qualifiers thus far, it’s Auburn’s women that are nationally ranked, coming in at No. 23 in this week’s rankings.

Raevan Harris is the lone automatic qualifier this season for the Tigers, ranking second in the nation in the high jump. The other qualifier from the women’s squad is Joanna Atkins, who is the lone Tiger to be qualified in two events (60 meters, 200 meters).

The Auburn men have four distance runners (Elkanah Kibet - 3,000 meters; Felix Kiboiywo - Mile; Girma Mecheso - 5,000 meters; Jean-Pierre Weerts - 3,000 meters), a sprinter (Marcus Rowland - 60 meters) and a thrower (Eric Werskey - shot put) that have provisionally qualified so far this season.

Men’s tennis hosts UAB today
The No. 29 ranked men’s tennis team will take on UAB today at 2 p.m. at the Yarbrough Tennis Center in Auburn.

After playing at the National Indoor Qualifier, the Tigers return home for their first home dual match of the season.

“We are excited about playing our first home match of the year,” head coach Eric Shore said. “Hopefully that will help us to play tough.”

The men will take a 1-1 record into the match against the Blazers, who hold a 1-0 record after opening their season with a win against North Alabama last week.

“I’ve heard that they have new players and a new team,” Shore stated. “I am expecting a tough match and I hope that we come ready to play.”

Auburn enters the weekend with two top-20 doubles teams. The No. 10 ranked pair of Alexey Tsyrenov and Tim Puetz have created a 4-1 spring record, while the No. 19 duo, Alex Stamchev and Lukas Marsoun are undefeated in doubles competition.

“They’re off to a great start and that’s an encouragement because we’ve struggled in that area in the past,” said Shore. “I’d like to see them make the tournament in doubles. They’ll be taking care of business in our dual matches and I think we’re on the right track.”

In the last meeting between the two teams, Auburn prevailed in a 6-0 win over the Blazers.

Action against the Blazers is set to begin at 2 p.m. at the City of Auburn/Auburn University Yarbrough Tennis Center. Admission is free to all home matches.

Women’s tennis travels for pair of matches
The No. 25 Auburn women’s tennis team (1-2) will hit the road for a pair of matches against ranked opponents, first facing No. 27 Texas A&M at 6 p.m. tonight in College Station, Texas.

The Tigers will then travel to Fort Worth, Texas, to take on No. 21 TCU Sunday at noon.

“We are looking forward to our matches with Texas A&M and TCU this weekend,” head women’s tennis coach Tim Gray said. “Both are very tough teams and we will need to be focused and ready to compete. Texas A&M will have a big, rowdy crowd for sure, which will make for a great atmosphere. We upset TCU last year when they were ranked 15th in the nation, so I’m sure they will be hungry for revenge.”

Tonight’s match with the Aggies will be only the second meeting between Auburn and Texas A&M. In 2007, the Aggies took a 5-2 win over Auburn in College Station.

Texas A&M is off to a 2-1 start with wins over Denver and St. Mary’s College (Calif.).

The Tigers will then travel to Fort Worth for a Sunday match against No. 21 TCU at the Bayard H. Friedman Tennis Center.

TCU (2-2) opened the season with a 4-3 loss to then-No. 41 Virginia, but evened its mark with a 6-1 win over then-ranked No. 22 William & Mary.

Like Auburn, the Horned Frogs played in the ITA Kick-Off Weekend in Atlanta, and finished with a 1-1 record. TCU dropped its opening match to host No. 8 Georgia Tech, 5-2, but rebounded from the loss by defeating then-No. 20 Florida State, 4-2.

This will be the third meeting between Auburn and TCU. Last year in Auburn the Tigers upended the 15th-ranked Horned Frogs, 4-3.

Campbell promoted to volleyball associate head coach
Auburn assistant volleyball coach Chris Campbell has been promoted to Associate Head Coach, head coach Wade Benson announced Thursday.

Campbell recently completed his first season at Auburn under Benson.

“Chris has a wealth of experience in the game, as shown in our 2009 recruiting class, and has the ability to move forward in the coaching world,” said Benson. “He has a great deal of volleyball knowledge and will be a tremendous asset to the team.”

Benson and Campbell have been together for just one season, but are familiar with each other’s styles as they competed against each other as head coaches in the Big Sky Conference. Benson coached at Eastern Washington while Campbell was at Northern Arizona.

A native of Harvey Station, New Brunswick, Canada, Campbell has 10 seasons of volleyball coaching experience, including eight as a head coach.

“I am grateful to Coach Benson for this opportunity,” said Campbell. “We are very excited about the year we have ahead of us, we worked very hard last year to bring in one of the best recruiting classes in the conference and I look forward to being here and continuing the development of Auburn volleyball.”