TERRE HAUTE, IND. -- The Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology men's tennis team has been picked to finish third in the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference this season, in a preseason poll of league coaches.
The Fightin' Engineers received 72 poll points to place third in the poll, one point ahead of fourth-place Franklin.
Earlham College earned the top spot with 100 points and all 10 first-place votes. Transylvania University was picked second with 89 points.
Rose-Hulman and Franklin were picked third and fourth, followed by Hanover and Anderson. Manchester, Mount St. Joseph, Defiance and Bluffton round out the poll.
Rose-Hulman finished fourth in the league at 6-3 in conference play last season. The team featuers the return of two first-team all-HCAC honorees from last year in senior Ben Paras (Tucson, Ariz./Nordhoff) and Devon Fritz (Lakeside, Calif./West Hills).
Rose-Hulman hosts Earlham in the first match of the HCAC season on Feb. 9 at the Wabash Valley Tennis Center.