A challenging stretch of games to start the 2012 season seems to finally be paying off for the Troy Trojans tennis teams, with both the men and women’s teams bringing in home wins against Kennesaw State on Sunday, Feb. 12.

The Trojan men shut out Kennesaw 7-0 to bring in their first win of the season in a match that saw strong doubles performances from sophomore Sami Ghorbel and junior Anas Rouchdi as well a tiebreaker win courtesy of sophomore Jamie Eccleton and freshman Mansingh Athare.

“We’ve had some tough competition,” head coach Eric Hayes said. “We played a lot of tough teams and at Kennesaw the guys really showed up to play, the level of competition we’ve had gave the guys confidence and it showed in the score.”

The women brought their home streak up to two with their 6-1 win over Kennesaw, continuing to show their strength after their Jan. 29 shutout of Florida A&M.

The women were bolstered by a comeback performance by junior Karoline Grymel and sophomore Lyubov Dorofeeva, who took a doubles point after Kennesaw had evened things up with a doubles win of their own.

Hayes says that much like the men’s team, the women have faced some strong competition this season, and have been able to use the home court to their advantage.

“The girls traveled a lot early in the season,” he said. “They’re comfortable at home and we’ve still got two or three more home matches in a row, we just want to work on our confidence level before going back on the road.”

Just because the Trojans faced a tough start to the season on the road, they still have challenges looming on the horizon.

Most notable, a home double header against in-state foes Alabama State and Jacksonville this Saturday, Feb. 18, marking the first time either of the Trojan teams has played a two-match day this season.

“We’re trying to get a few extra matches into the season,” Hayes said. “The key is being well rested because we play twice in a day while the other teams only play once. We’re working on our endurance and energy plus our ability to turn around and keep playing.”

The Alabama State men’s team is currently 1-3, winning one against Alabama A & M, while Jacksonville is 2-3 taking wins against Alabama State and North Alabama.

On the women’s teams ASU has yet to win a match while JSU is 2-2 with wins against William Carey and ASU.

Both teams will play Saturday at the Lunsford Tennis Complex on Troy’s campus with both teams starting against ASU at 9 a.m. followed by JSU at 1:30 p.m.