Women's Tennis Announces 2011-12 Schedule
8/2/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
Aug. 2, 2011
EAST LANSING, Mich. - Michigan State women's tennis head coach Simone Jardim announced the Spartans' 2011-12 schedule today (Aug. 2). The Spartans host two fall tournaments this season, while playing 14 of their 22 spring dual matches at home in East Lansing. On the schedule for MSU are three teams which qualified for the 2011 NCAA Tournament, including conference opponents Michigan and Northwestern and non-conference foe Akron.
The Spartans host the annual Spartan Invitational Sept. 23-25. The teams include Michigan, Purdue, Marquette, Louisville, UCI, Akron and IPFW. Traveling to Evanston, Ill., Sep. 30-Oct. 2, the Green and White will compete in the Wildcat Invitational hosted by Northwestern. Next up, the squad visits Ohio State for the ITA Midwest Regional Championships Oct. 20-25.
At the conclusion of fall play, the Spartans play host to yet another tournament, as they welcome Eastern Michigan, Bowling Green, Ball State, Detroit and Youngstown State to East Lansing for the Green and White Invite Nov. 4-6.
Michigan State kicks off the spring dual season with eight straight home matches before hitting the road to Florida for its spring break trip to face Central Florida, North Florida and Stetson March 2-6. The season officially begins on Sunday, Jan. 22 when Akron visits the Spartans. MSU will host Eastern Michigan and Cleveland State on Sunday, Jan. 29 and Saturday Feb. 4 prior to competing in a doubleheader on Friday, Feb. 10 against Bowling Green and Toledo.
Detroit makes the trip to East Lansing on Saturday, Feb. 18 before the Spartans battle in their first Big Ten contest against Michigan on Wednesday, Feb. 22. Western Michigan is the last home match prior to the team's trip to Florida on Friday, Feb. 24.
Returning home on Saturday, March 17, the Spartans host Ball State in their final non-conference match of the spring. MSU hosts Minnesota and Wisconsin to begin its stretch of 10 back-to-back conference matches. The Golden Gophers face off against MSU on Saturday, March 24, while the Badgers visit on Sunday, March 25.
The Green and White travels to Indiana on Saturday, March 31 and then to Purdue on Sunday, April 1. Northwestern and Illinois are slated to travel to MSU on Saturday, April 7 and Sunday, April 8, respectively. Three road matches then await the Spartans, as they travel to Iowa on Friday, April 13, Nebraska on Sunday, April 15 and Ohio State on Friday, April 20. The season ends at home on Sunday, April 22 with Senior Day against Penn State.
Ohio State will host the Big Ten Championship this year from April 26-29. The NCAA Regionals take place May 13-15 and the NCAA Women's Championships will be May 19-29.