Aug. 18, 2011
» 2011-12 Men's Tennis Schedule SEATTLE - Washington men's tennis head coach Matt Anger has finalized the schedule for the upcoming season, laying out a challenging slate of matches at home and away for the Dawgs. The fall season is just a few weeks away, with the first individual tournament beginning the first week of October. The Huskies reached the NCAA second round last season in their 17th consecutive NCAA tourney appearance, an unprecedented streak of success. UW will have a significant amount of turnover this season, however, as they lost three longtime seniors--Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan, Martin Kildahl, Tobi Obenaus--to graduation. All-Pac-10 First Team selection Kyle McMorrow will lead the group of returners. The biggest news for the fall season is that Washington will be the host for the ITA Northwest Regional Championships, one of the top fall tournaments, which sends the winners on to the ITA National Indoor Championships. The Huskies last hosted the event in 2007. Regionals, featuring some of the top Pac-12 players from Stanford, California, and Oregon among many other teams, will take place at the Nordstrom Tennis Center from October 21-25. Dual play begins for the Huskies on January 13 against Seattle U. The Huskies have three matches to get rolling before heading to Duke University for ITA National Team Indoor Qualifying, where they will face a talented Louisville team on Jan. 28 then take on either Duke or Virginia Commonwealth on Jan. 29. Duke finished last year ranked 12th and Louisville finished 24th, one spot ahead of UW. The winner of that four-team bracket will advance to the ITA National Team Indoor Championships, hosted this year by Virginia, in mid-February. The Huskies start February with a tough trip to Boise to face Boise State, then return home for a marquee dual against Michigan on Feb. 11. In March, the Huskies welcome in Tulsa, which ended the 2011 season ranked 26th, and then will have a rematch against Louisville as the Cardinals had arranged a Seattle trip prior to the results of the National Team Indoor Qualifying draft. After spring break, Washington takes a difficult road trip to Malibu, California to take on an always tough Pepperdine squad and Cal Poly, which the Huskies defeated in the NCAA first round last season. The first year of Pac-12 play adds Utah to the mix, however Colorado does not have a men's tennis program. Another change coming is that this will be the first year of a conference team tournament at the end of the season, rather than the individual tourney. The first Pac-12 Team Championships will still be held in Ojai, California, the traditional site of the individual events. USC, the three-time defending NCAA Champions, come to Seattle to start Pac-12 play on March 30th, and UCLA will be right behind on March 31st. Washington then heads to the Bay Area to face Cal and Stanford on the first weekend in April. Utah makes its first trip to Seattle as a conference rival on April 13. The Huskies remain at home to close the regular season against Arizona on April 15 and Oregon on April 21. The Pac-12 tourney is set for April 26-29, then the Huskies will hope to be ready to head into an 18th-straight NCAA tourney, with the first and second rounds slated for May 11-13. After the second round, the remaining rounds of team play and the NCAA singles and doubles tourneys will be hosted by the University of Georgia in Athens. |
