Men's Tennis Announces 2011-12 Schedule
8/26/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
Aug. 26, 2011
EAST LANSING, Mich. - Michigan State men's tennis head coach Gene Orlando announced the team's 2011-12 schedule. This year's schedule features 14 homes contests and two fall tournaments. The Green and White are set to face 11 teams who qualified for the 2011 NCAA Championship.
The year begins for the Green and White when it hosts the Frank Beeman Invitational and the Stan Drobac Invitational for the first two fall tournaments of the season. The Beeman will be hosted Friday-Sunday, Sept. 16-18, while the Drobac will be held Friday-Sunday, Sept. 30 - Oct. 2. The fall concludes for the Spartans with the ITA Midwest Regional Championships (Oct. 13-17) and the Big Ten Indoor Championships (Oct. 28-31).
The spring opens for MSU with a tripleheader on Saturday, Jan. 14. Michigan State will welcome Wright State, Bradley and Morehead State. The Spartans host Mississippi State on Friday, Jan. 20 prior to four-straight contests away from East Lansing.
The stretch away from home begins with a doubleheader in Indianapolis, Ind., against Kentucky and host IUPUI. The following weekend, Jan. 29-30, the Green and White will take part in the ITA Kick-off Weekend with Tennessee, Oklahoma and Mississippi in Knoxville, Tenn.
The Spartans host six other non-conference foes as well as traveling to both Notre Dame (Feb. 26) and Marquette (March 8), before getting into the heart of the conference schedule. MSU will also welcome Detroit (Feb. 4), Toledo (Feb. 4), Western Michigan (Feb. 18), Dayton (Feb. 18), Ball State (March 3) and Cleveland State (March 3).
Ohio State is first on the docket for MSU with the Big Ten opener slated for Sunday, Feb. 12 in East Lansing.
Michigan State hits the road for three-straight conference contests to Michigan (March 17), Minnesota (March 23) and Wisconsin (March 25).
After hosting Indiana on Saturday, March 31 and Purdue on Sunday, April 1, MSU returns to the road for its final back-to-back road contests of the season against Northwestern (April 6) and Illinois (April 7).
MSU hosts Iowa on Saturday, April 14 prior to welcoming Nebraska to the conference on Sunday, April 15.
The regular season concludes at Penn State on Sunday, April 22 before traveling to Northwestern for the Big Ten Tournament April 26-29.