The Texas Tech women’s tennis program unveiled its 2016-17 schedule which features 12 dual matches against fellow 2016 NCAA Tournament teams announced Thursday by head coach Todd Petty.
Texas Tech has amassed consecutive 20-win seasons for the first time in program history fueled by a program-record 25 victories and the program’s highest final ITA national ranking (No. 15) during the 2016 season. The Lady Raiders also have picked up back-to-back NCAA Sweet 16 appearances and collected five straight NCAA Tournament bids under Petty.
Texas Tech will meet 11 opponents who ranked among the ITA’s Top 35 in the 2016 final rankings. The Lady Raiders also will face 10 squads who won at least one match during last year’s NCAA Tournament highlighted by NCAA National Runner-Up Oklahoma State (March 31) at home. Tech has posted a dominant 75-14 home record in eight seasons and have dialed up wins in 63 of its last 70 decisions at the McLeod Tennis Center since 2011 with Petty at the helm.
“From start to finish our schedule is the toughest we’ve faced in my nine years that I’ve been at Texas Tech, but our players have put in a lot of hard work during the offseason to prepare and be ready for these challenges,” Petty said. “Our program set a lot of records last season and returned to the Sweet 16 for the second straight year. This group of determined young ladies are hungry and ready to take the next step.”
Texas Tech’s fall tournament schedule includes trips to the Midland Invitational (Sept. 16-18), the Bulldog Fall Classic hosted by Georgia (Sept. 23-25), the Oklahoma Invitational (Sept. 30-Oct. 2) hosted by Oklahoma and the Kitty Harrison Invitational hosted by North Carolina (Nov. 4-6).
The Lady Raiders will compete at the Riviera/ITA All-American Championships (Oct. 1-9) in California and the ITA Texas Regionals (Oct. 20-24) hosted by Baylor during the fall. The singles and doubles champions from the ITA Texas Regionals will earn spots to the ITA National Indoors (Nov. 3-6) at the USTA National Tennis Center in New York.
Texas Tech will open the spring schedule at the Miami Spring Invite (Jan. 20-22) where the Lady Raiders will square off with host and fellow NCAA Sweet 16 participant Miami. Kentucky and NCAA Final Four participant Vanderbilt from the SEC round out the four-team hidden dual tournament.
Texas Tech will begin its home slate with the ITA Kickoff Weekend (Jan. 28-29) for the second consecutive season. The Lady Raiders play host to Arizona State, South Carolina and UC Santa Barbara with the winner advancing to the ITA National Indoor Championships (Feb. 10-13) hosted by Yale. Tech qualified for 16-team ITA event for the first time in program history last season.
The Lady Raiders welcome TCU (March 4), Rice (March 5) and New Mexico (April 20) to the McLeod Tennis Center for nonconference home action.
Texas Tech will meet North Carolina (Feb. 3), South Florida (Feb. 5), Wichita State (March 8), Illinois (March 17) and Northwestern (March 19) on the road or at a neutral site in nonconference. The Lady Raiders also will participate in prestigious Blue Gray National Tennis Classic (Feb. 24-26) in Montgomery, Alabama. The 8-team field includes Alabama, Auburn, Denver, Texas, Tulane, Tulsa and Utah.
Texas Tech’s nine-match Big 12 schedule has home dates with Baylor (March 26), defending Big 12 champion Oklahoma State (March 31), Iowa State (April 7) and West Virginia (April 9) in addition to road tilts at Kansas State (March 10), Kansas (March 12), Texas (March 24) and TCU (April 15). The Big 12 Championships will be hosted by TCU from April 27-30.
Texas Tech is slated to return its top seven players which recorded every dual match victory last season. Sarah Dvorak, Felicity Maltby, Gabriela Talaba and Alex Valenstein garnered All-Big 12 Second-Team honors in 2016.
Visit www.TexasTech.com for the latest news and information on the women’s tennis program. Fans also can follow the program on its social media outlets at www.Facebook.com/TechWomensTennis and @TexasTechTennis on Twitter.
(COURTESY: Texas Tech Sports Information Department)
