The SMU women's tennis team will play its first ACC match on Friday when No. 22 Notre Dame comes to the Styslinger / Altec Tennis Complex, ushering in a new era for the program.

The Mustangs enter the ACC coming off three-straight American Athletic Conference championships and are eager to take the next step. It won't be easy with six ACC teams currently in the ITA Top 25.

"I think it's cool because it gives us the chance to prove ourselves with the whole ACC thing," senior Drew Morris said. "I think a lot of people didn't want us in the conference, not specifically tennis but every sport. You have all the schools saying we don't belong here. And I think it's cool for us to be able to have the chance to prove ourselves against these teams. The ACC is a good tennis conference, so I think it's cool, and I think we're all looking forward to making a name for ourselves."

Not only is the conference new, but the schedule presents a different type of challenge. The Mustangs will play a true ACC schedule, matching up against 12 conference foes before going to the conference tournament.

That is a big change from life in the AAC.

"I think playing in the ACC will be really fun. It's going to be a new chapter for SMU," senior Ellie Pittman said. "We've got a bunch of matches under our belt, so we can just go and play freely and compete as a team and embrace it all."

Two of those matches have been against ACC teams in nonconference contests. The Mustangs faced Clemson at the ITA Kickoff Weekend and already had North Carolina State on the schedule before moving into the same conference.

Even though SMU lost both matches, there were plenty of positives to take from them. The Mustangs will see Clemson again on April 11, but wouldn't see NC State again unless they met in the conference tournament.

"I think there's a lot of positives to take from it," Morris said. "I think when we played Clemson, we had our moments, and we're definitely excited to have them again. I think the same for NC State, we had really good moments that are positive also. We were fighting in every match."

Playing a conference schedule also allows head coach Jeff Nevolo to take a different approach to the season. In years past, without the ability to schedule strong opponents late in the season, those matches came early in the year, and there was more pressure to perform for a possible at-large bid.

Now, there is no questioning SMU's strength of schedule and, by virtue of playing an ACC schedule, those matches are later in the year.

"I think what it shifts is that we're able to take a little bit more of a process-oriented approach," Nevolo said. "We don't have to come out of the gates playing our best, because we know we're still going to have opportunities late. So, you really get stuck into the behaviors that are going to compliment playing a Friday, Sunday ACC schedule."

That has been especially important this season. Only three players return from last season, including Caroline McGinley and Millie Skelton, who were freshmen, and Morris. Nevolo and his staff brought in three freshmen — June Bjork, Sophie Llewellyn, and Kayla Schefke — and transfers Pittman and Arianna Stavropoulos.

They are starting to find their rhythm together, earning 4-2 and 4-3 wins against Houston and Rice, respectively, in the last two weeks.

"They're a great group of kids, but we're a little inexperienced," Nevolo said. "And some of us are inexperienced in playing SMU tennis and what we stand for and what we're all about and how we've gotten the program to where it is now. (Against Houston) we saw some people play with Mustang DNA. We talk about it when it gets to crunch time. … I truly think our best tennis is in front of us, but it has to do a lot with how much hard work they've put in."

With two straight wins and wins in four of their last five, the Mustangs are trending in the right direction heading into the conference schedule.

Exactly where SMU wants to be.

"You never want to be stagnant, but you certainly don't want to be stagnant in February," Nevolo said. "So, I think, for us, you never know what a little win here or a win there is going to do, or overcoming something that's maybe been an issue is going to do for you a week from now, or two weeks from now. You can't get too caught up in score lines right now. There's a lot of people earning a lot of experience."

After Notre Dame on Friday, SMU will host Louisville at noon on Sunday. That's just the beginning. They will take on No. 2 Virginia (Feb. 28), No. 27 Virginia Tech (March 2), and No. 34 Stanford (March 14) for three of their next four conference matches.

"I think we just take one match at a time," Pittman said. "It's a really hard conference. Each match we just have to be ready for battles every single match. I think we just need to be ready, and we got some looks at the ACC teams before, so it's good that we saw what we need our level to be at, to be winning at that level. We will build from each match. It'll be hard, but I think we'll be able to grow a lot."

That's the challenge that faces the Mustangs. It's one they welcome.

"We're definitely ready. This program is ready," Nevolo said. "We've always tried to play the toughest schedule that we can, and now it's gifted to us every year.… I'm happy for our kids, and I'm, most importantly, just thrilled for SMU. It's an incredible institution. We have an incredible athletics department, and I think the whole school deserves it, I think we deserve it. We're going to take it one match at a time. It's all about resilience when you're playing an ACC-type schedule."