Hokie ClubBLACKSBURG, Va. - A slate of 10 home matches, including dates against Maryland, Miami, Florida State, NC State, Wake Forest and several other matches against some of the top teams in the nation, highlight the 2008-09 Virginia Tech women’s tennis schedule. The home schedule also includes the Hokie Fall Invitational, Oct. 31-Nov. 2, at the Burrows-Burleson Tennis Center. The Hokies return five players from last year's 14-13 squad which was ranked No. 60 nationally.
The fall schedule will have Tech opening the season, Sept. 12-14, at the Princeton Invitational followed by a trip to Boulder, Colo., on Sept. 19-21, to participate in the Colorado Invitational. The ITA East Regional is next on the fall slate, Oct. 24-28, in Philadelphia, Pa. and the individual season concludes with the Hokie Fall Invitational featuring players from schools throughout the region.
"We are very excited about our fall schedule," said Virginia Tech head coach Terry Ann Zawacki-Woods. "We will have the opportunity to compete against some different teams that we do not see during the regular season, and I am looking forward to seeing how well our team will come together throughout the fall tournaments.”
Tech will face another tough spring schedule featuring 14 teams that were ranked last season. In fact, nine of the Hokies’ 11 ACC opponents concluded last season in the national rankings, with two (No. 6 Georgia Tech and No. 9 Duke) finishing in the top ten.
The dual-match schedule opens on Jan. 28 with a doubleheader against Elon and Longwood. Tech will travel to Waco, Texas for the first- and second rounds of the ITA National Indoor, Jan. 31-Feb. 1. The remainder of the February schedule includes home matches versus Davidson and Liberty, followed by road contests at Virginia Commonwealth and Boston College.
The March schedule features home contests against Maryland, Florida State and Miami, with road matches at Tulane, Virginia, Winthrop, Clemson and Georgia Tech. The regular season concludes in April with matches at North Carolina and Duke followed by home contests versus Marshall, NC State and Wake Forest. The ACC Championships will be held in Cary, N.C. (Apr. 16-19) prior to the NCAA Championships.
"Our spring schedule will present some great opportunities for our program," said Zawacki-Woods. "We are looking forward to our always challenging ACC schedule as well as playing in the first ITA Kickoff Indoor Weekend in Waco, Texas and competing against many nationally-ranked non-conference opponents."