The University of Akron Athletics
Women's Tennis Finalizes 2013-14 Schedule
September 12 | Women's Tennis
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AKRON, Ohio – Playing host to a fall tournament and a visit to Pac-12 opponent Oregon during the spring season highlight the 2013-14 schedule for the Zips women's tennis program, as was announced by head coach Brandon Padgett on Thursday.
"We are excited about the upcoming schedule as it presents a solid challenge to our extremely young team," Padgett said. "With half of our group being newcomers, we have compiled a schedule that fits very well with the direction we are going. We are looking forward to the opportunity to play teams we haven't seen in the past, such as Penn and Cornell, and are excited about meeting up again with a strong Oregon team in Eugene."
Akron starts the fall component of its schedule at the Cornell Invitational in Ithaca, N.Y., on Sept. 13-15, and on Sept. 20-22 will be in Philadelphia to compete in the Cissie Leary Invitational at Penn. The Zips close out the first month of the season in East Lansing, Mich., at the Michigan State Spartan Invitational.
On Oct. 4-6, the squad will play host to the Akron Invitational. Along with UA, the field will include student-athletes from Cornell, Ohio State and West Virginia. Akron's fall schedule concludes in Ann Arbor, Mich., where it will compete in the USTA/ITA Midwest Regional, hosted by Michigan, on Oct. 10-14.
The Zips' spring schedule features 10 home matches, however, the program will not compete on its home court until a Jan. 31 meeting with UIC. UA opens its campaign with four-straight away contests, traveling to West Virginia on Jan. 17, Dayton and Wright State on Jan. 18, and Cleveland State on Jan. 26.
The UIC match starts a three-match homestand that also includes a doubleheader with ASA Community College and Oakland on Feb. 2. The Zips spend the remainder of the month on the road, with trips to Penn (Feb. 7), St. Joseph's (Feb. 8), Youngstown State (Feb. 15), Portland State (Feb. 21) and Oregon (Feb. 22). UA defeated the Ducks, who were then-ranked 69th nationally, 4-3 in Akron in February 2013.
Another home doubleheader kicks off the month of March, when Butler and Duquesne visit on the eighth. A trip to Cornell on March 15 provides a final tune up for Mid-American Conference play, which begins at home against Toledo and Eastern Michigan on March 21 and 22, respectively.
A non-league road trip to Georgia Southern (March 24) and Charleston Southern (March 25) is next, along with a non-conference neutral-court meeting with Wisconsin-Green Bay in DeKalb, Ill., on March 28. UA resumes MAC play that same day against Northern lllinois.
Back-to-back home contests versus Ball State (April 4) and Miami (Ohio) (April 5) start the stretch run of the regular season. A weekend road swing to Bowling Green (April 11) and Western Michigan (April 12) comes before the season finale at home against Buffalo (April 19).
The conference championship will be held April 25-27, with the winner earning the league's automatic bid into the NCAA Championships.
"We have a great deal of development that needs to take place this season," Padgett said. "Our schedule allows us to combine a highly-competitive set of non-conference matches with sufficient breaks in between matches to work on development."
The Zips closed the 2012-13 season with an 18-10 record (5-3 MAC) and advanced to the MAC tournament's semifinal round for the fourth-straight season and fourth time in program history. The squad ended the year ranked eighth in the ITA's Midwest region.
After winning the MAC Tournament championship and representing the league in the NCAA Tournament in 2011 and 2012, in 2013 the UA doubles team of seniors Angelina Jogasuria and Prang Pantusart was selected to compete in the NCAA Doubles Championship.
Players Mentioned
