Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern Announces 2011-12 Tournament, Dual Schedules
7/27/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
July 27, 2011
2011-12 Northwestern Women's Tennis Schedule
EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern, the only school in the country to finish ranked in the top-12 each of the last eight years, has released its schedule of fall and spring competitions for the 2011-12 season. NU returns all but one player from a team that last year claimed a 13th-straight Big Ten Tournament title and advanced to the round of 16 in the NCAA Championships.
"We take a lot of pride in playing a nationally competitive schedule all year round and we're definitely on course to do that again in 2011-12," said head coach Claire Pollard, now entering her 14th season at NU. "We added a new tournament for the fall in the Lakewood Ranch Intercollegiate that extends our season a bit deeper into November. Then in the spring, a lot of tough opponents that we were able to face at home last year -- teams like Baylor, Duke, UNC, Notre Dame, Texas -- we're going to be on the road for in 2012. There's no reason we won't be ready for the Big Ten and NCAA Championships when they come around."
For the first time in a number of years, Northwestern will open the fall tournament schedule on its home courts when its hosts the Wildcat Invitational. In recent years, the event has drawn top talent from many Midwest schools as well as quality non-regional opponents such as Oklahoma, South Carolina and LSU.
After sending select players to compete at the ITA All-American Championships in Los Angeles, the full squad will enter the ITA Midwest Regional Championships Oct. 20-25 at Ohio State. The All-American doubles pairing of Linda Abu Mushrefova and Nida Hamilton will have the opportunity to defend the Regional doubles crown they claimed in 2010.
NU will wrap up the fall at the ASU Thunderbird Classic, where Belinda Niu was the singles runner-up as a freshman in 2010, and the aforementioned Lakewood Ranch Intercollegiate Nov. 11-13 in Sarasota, Fla. Last year's event featured top squads such as Baylor, Miami (Fla.), Notre Dame and Mississippi State.
For the second straight season, Northwestern's dual season kicks off against tough SEC foe Vanderbilt, this time in Evanston on Jan. 21. After competing in the qualifying rounds of the ITA National Indoor Team Championship, the Wildcats will hit the road to meet Duke and North Carolina on Tobacco Road, two teams that finished the 2011 season ranked No. 3 and 4, respectively, in the country.
It doesn't get any easier after that as NU will likely be off to Charlottesville for the main draw of the Indoor Championship, where it won indoor national titles in 2009 and 2010. After that, perennial contenders Georgia Tech, Texas and Baylor await the `Cats in nonconference action before Northwestern plays its first Big Ten match at Illinois on March 11.
On March 25, the Wildcats will face Nebraska for the first time since the Huskers joined the Big Ten; NU has recorded a win over Nebraska each of the last two seasons, first in the 2010 NCAA Championships and again in the qualifying rounds of the 2011 Indoor Team Championship.
Tough tests down the stretch of the regular season include the April 4 tilt at Notre Dame and a match four days later at Michigan, which upended Northwestern during the regular season a year ago only to see NU avenge the loss with a 4-3 comeback win in the Big Ten Tournament final in Ann Arbor.
If Northwestern is to win a 14th-straight Big Ten Tournament, they'll do so on the home courts of Ohio State April 26-29 in Columbus. This year's final rounds of the NCAA Team and Individual Championships, meanwhile, will be held at the University of Georgia for the second time in three years.
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