Step-by-step, inch-by-inch, the University of St. Francis men's tennis program is making its way on to the national scene.

Seventh-year head coach Jim Trudeau saw his team take some more strides in 2008-09 and is looking for the Saints to make the big step this spring and qualify for the NAIA national tournament.

USF finished the 2008-09 campaign with a 17-6 record but had a pair of hurdles it could not overcome - region rivals Olivet Nazarene and Aquinas (MI). Olivet Nazarene again represented the Saints' region at the NAIA national tournament and Aquinas also placed ahead of the Saints in head-to-head competition.

Two seasons ago it was a tight loss to Olivet Nazarene in the Mid-States Tennis Conference finale that denied the Saints a chance to make the trip to the NAIA nationals.

"Quite simply, our challenge is to improve to the point where we can beat both Olivet and Aquinas if we are ever going to get to Mobile for the national tourney," said Trudeau. "Our region generally only gets one representative to the field and those two schools have been at the top of our teams for most of the past few years. We have added some new players and have improved our team. Now we have to show that improvement on the court and prove to ourselves that we can not only compete with the top teams but also beat them."

Three key seniors are gone from last year's team - Cole Twitchell, Jason Blauw and Jeremy Unger - but Trudeau likes the influx of new players that he has brought to USF to replace them.

And the newcomers will join returning veterans in seniors Scott Surges and Luis Oliveira and junior Jake Quigley.

Surges missed a big chunk of last season with a stress fracture but still fashioned a 10-7 singles record and teamed with Twitchell to post an 8-5 mark at No. 1 doubles. Oliveira was second on the team with 16 singles victories, most of them at No. 2 or No. 3, and teamed successfully with Blauw at No. 2 doubles. Quigley played at five of the six singles spots at one time or another and finished with a 13-16 record after enjoying an impressive freshman season in 2007-08 when he won his first six collegiate matches.

"Surges is our captain and a four-year senior for us," said Trudeau. "Hopefully, we can have him healthy for a whole spring which has not been the case for most of his career. His game is as good entering this season as I have even seen it.

"Luis has been battling a few nagging injuries but when he is healthy he can play right up there at the same level as Surges or Szymanski," adds Trudeau. "He has a lot of good experience as he played at the junior college nationals a couple of times before he joined us last year. He has become an excellent doubles player and that will be a big plus for us as well.

"Jake Quigley just keeps getting better every day," said Trudeau. "Other coaches have marveled at how hard he hits the ball and still is able to keep it in play. He has worked really hard to improve his game and will be a key player for us both this year and next year as a senior."

The three newcomers that will complete the singles lineup are junior transfers Jakub Szymanski and Erick Dobrzynski and freshman Andres Stecher.

Szymanski, who will battle Surges for the No. 1 singles slot, played at Bethany College in Kansas for his first two years before transferring to USF. He has some national tournament experience as he participated in that meet with the Bethany team.

"Jakub is a bulldog on the court," said Trudeau. "He has a bit of an unorthodox style but he is absolutely determined to get to every ball and get it back to the other side of the net with a better shot than what was hit to him."

Dobrzynski transferred to USF from nearby Moraine Valley Community College.

"Erick has been a nice surprise for us this year," said Trudeau. "He has greatly improved his game since he came here this past fall and has formed a great doubles team with Andy (Stecher)."

Stecher is one of four foreign players - joining other newcomers Szymanski and freshman Nikola Milenkovic and Oliveira - now on the Saints' roster.

"Andy is a real, real steady player," said Trudeau, with an emphasis on steady. "He is very quiet but also very workmanlike and plays a very solid game of tennis. He should have great success in both singles and doubles for us."

The three newcomers and the three veterans will most likely play the majority of the matches in the six singles slots and will pair up for doubles as well. Milenkovic will also see some action.

"Nikola has a lot of ability but is working hard on his game and will work his way into the lineup at some point," said Trudeau.

Other players returning from last year's club include senior Matt Shay and sophomore Eddie Semik.

"Matt is a pretty solid singles player and has worked hard to compete for some playing time," said Trudeau. "And Eddie is a good doubles player with a big and very aggressive serve. Both of them will get some chances to play this year and both are good additions to the team and give us some needed depth."

Junior Matt Nosbisch and freshman Ross McCallister round out the roster.

The Saints won their only dual match of the fall portion of their schedule with a 9-0 blanking of Bethel College (IN). The spring slate has its normal share of top-notch opponents including a difficult stretch of five matches during the team's spring break trip to Orlando, Fla.

"We'll get a chance to prove whether or not we belong in the NAIA national ratings during the Florida trip," said Trudeau. "Webber International (FL) is always a raked team and Warner (FL) should be very strong as well. We will play Wesleyan (CT) again and they are regularly one of the better NCAA Division III teams around the country."

Once back north, the Saints hit the meat of their schedule with Olivet Nazarene and Aquinas as well as other strong NAIA foes like Indiana Tech and Indiana Wesleyan.

"We'll have plenty of chances to prove that we are a national tournament level type of team" said Trudeau. "And I feel like we have the right mix of talent and experience to make another big step toward finally getting there."