HOUSTON – The 2019-20 North Texas tennis season officially gets underway on Friday as the Mean Green travel to Houston to compete in the Rice Invite Fall Tournament.

Returner Nidhi Surapaneni went 3-0 in last season's Rice Invite and claimed a flight championship, which propelled her individual season and the team's. Also competing in the three-day event in Houston are 12 other schools, including Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Colorado, Houston, Rice,  Sam Houston, Texas A&M Corpus Christi, Texas State, South Florida, UT Arlington and UTSA – Many of whom UNT will play during the spring season.

"We are very excited to see the ladies compete this weekend," said head coach Sujay Lama who is entering 14th season in Denton. "They get to measure their game against some good competition."

This year North Texas fans will see a slightly different Mean Green squad than they've been used to the last few years as five of the eight women on the team are newcomers. This weekend's competition in Houston will be their first time competing with North Texas.
"Getting to see the newcomers play their first collegiate competition is always so exciting," Lama said.

The Rice Invite will give the newcomers heavy competition to start their careers off with. Seven women competing in the tournament are ranked in the ITA top 125 and five doubles teams are ranked in the top 60.

Last season's success in the Rive Invite from both Surapaneni and then senior Tamuna Kututbidze were launching pads to the player's most successful seasons. A strong showing from the three returners and five newcomers will likely do the same again this season.

This weekend's tournament will not have live stats but a live stream is available. Click here to watch the streams.