BOILING SPRINGS, N.C. – After winning the Big South conference regular season championship, the Gardner-Webb men's tennis team returns to the courts this fall, playing in five road tournaments.
 
The action begins just up the road in Charlotte, as the Runnin' Bulldogs open the season at the Dick Stockton Championship on Sept. 5. Last season, Kim Niethammar led the 'Dogs with a fourth-place finish at the event.
 
GWU heads to the coast for their next event, the UNCW Clay Court Invite in Wilmington, N.C. on Sept. 14. It is the first time the Runnin' Bulldogs have participated in the event since 2019. That season, Victor Putter won the D2 Singles Championship as a four-seed, upsetting the top-seed Alberto Conde of Presbyterian 6-1, 7-6 in the second round.
 
The next week sees Gardner-Webb head to Davidson for the Davidson Fall Invite on Sept. 22. In their last appearance at the event in 2021, every single player collected at least one victory in singles and doubles action. Connor Enslin paced the 'Dogs with a 5-1 record.
 
For the first time since 2010, the Runnin' Bulldogs will head west to Tulsa, Okla. for the ITA All-American Championships, beginning on Sept. 29. The last time the Dogs went, it helped kick off the Big South Conference Player of the Year campaign for Evgeny Slesarev.
 
The fall season closes Oct. 20 in Cary, N.C. at the ITA Regional Championships. Last season, Putter won all four of his matches in the consolation bracket as the Runnin' Bulldogs picked up 11 total wins at tournament.
 
"This is a challenging fall schedule," says head men's tennis coach Mike Griffith. "We open immediately on clay which will test our conditioning and how much the team worked and played over the summer. Then we finish with two huge tournaments and are going back to Tulsa for the first time since 2010. However, it is time we went back as we have several teams and players deserving to play against the best.  Our #1 doubles team of Eduardo Dias/Chrisjan Van Wyk went 16-5 last season and beat the 37th ranked team in D-I, so I think we have the team to compete."
 
The Gardner-Webb men's tennis team won the 2023 Big South Conference regular season championship and finished as runner ups in the 2023 Big South Conference Tournament. For more information, follow the men's tennis team on twitter at @GWUMTEN  

Date	Tournament	City, State	Location
Sept. 5-11	Dick Stockton Cup	Charlotte, N.C.	Olde Providence Tennis Club
Sept. 14-17	UNCW Clay Court Invite	Wilmington, N.C.	Porters Neck Country Club
Sept. 22-24	Davidson Fall Invite	Davidson, N.C.	Davidson College
Sept. 29 - Oct. 5	ITA All-American Championship	Tulsa, Okla.	University of Tulsa
Oct. 20 - Oct 24	ITA Regional Championship	Cary, N.C.	Cary Tennis Park