Sept. 13, 2011
WACO, Texas - Baylor men's tennis head coach Matt Knoll announced the team's 2011-12 schedule, featuring nine opponents ranked in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association's (ITA) final top 25.
"It is just another year where we are trying to play the most competitive schedule possible and it just so happens that we are going to be playing a lot of games on the road," said Knoll. "There will be a stretch in the middle of the season where we will feel like an NBA team, playing one team and then having to pack up our bags and head to another state. We have a stretch where we will play matches in California, then we head to Tennessee, and finish up in Kentucky, but we are really looking forward to it and we feel like it will help us prepare for the NCAA tournament," he added.
After making their ninth straight NCAA Championship quarterfinal appearance last season, the Bears will begin the year by hosting the 11th-annual Baylor-HEB Invitational at the Hurd Tennis Center on Sept. 23-25.
Baylor's next competition will be at the ITA All-American Championships in Tulsa, Okla., on Oct. 1-9, where select players will compete. That will be followed by two more tournament appearances including the Austin Future, Oct. 10-15 and Mansfield Future, Oct. 17-22. The Bears will then travel to College Station, Texas, to compete in the ITA Texas Regional on Oct. 21-24. Baylor will wrap up its October play at the Niceville Future Tournament in Niceville, Texas.
Baylor will close out its fall schedule in early November when those who qualify will compete in the ITA National Indoors Tournament at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, N.Y.
When the Bears return to action in 2012, they will compete in Los Angeles, Calif., at the Sherwood Cup, Jan. 13-16, before starting a five-match home stretch that includes a possible matchup with ninth-ranked Florida. Baylor will host Louisiana-Lafayette on Jan. 20 before serving as one of 15 host sites for teams to advance to the ITA Team Indoor Championships. Baylor will play New Mexico State on Jan. 28 and if it wins that match, will take on the winner of the Rice Florida State match on Jan. 29. The winner will advance to play in the Feb. 17-20 ITA National Team Indoor Championships at the Boar's Head Sports Club in Charlottesville, Va. (hosted by the University of Virginia). The Bears will close out their home stretch by hosting Purdue on Feb. 12.
After completing the home stretch, the Bears will travel to Dallas to face off against UT-Arlington on January 20, before a possible trip to the National Team Indoor Tournament on Feb. 17-20. Next, the Bears will face a challenge when they travel to Berkeley, Calif., to take on California, who ranked No. 14 in the ITA's final poll.
The Bears will then return home to host SMU on March 1 before St. Edward's and Laredo CC play at Baylor on March 3. On Mar. 6, the Bears will host Maryland, before heading back on the road to face three top 25 opponents. Baylor will first travel to Los Angeles, Calif., to play No. 11 UCLA on March 14, then travel to Knoxville, Tenn., to face off against No. 4 Tennessee (March 17). The Bears will complete their road test by heading to Lexington, Ky., for a March 19 match against the eighth-ranked Kentucky Wildcats.
The Bears will return home to host their second doubleheader of the season when they play Prairie View A&M and Abilene Christian (March 24) before facing their first conference opponents on Mar. 31 when they host No. 21 Texas Tech. The Bears will continue the home stretch with contests versus No. 16 Texas on April 4 and No. 26 Tulsa on April 11.
The Bears will finish their season on the road starting with a matchup with No. 22 Oklahoma on April 13, followed by a trip to Stillwater, Okla., to face Oklahoma State on April 15. Baylor will finish its regular season schedule with one final regular season road test when they travel to College Station, Texas, to play the 10th-ranked Texas A&M.
The Aggies will host the Big 12 Championship April 27-29, while the first and second rounds of the NCAA Championship will be held on May 12 and 13 at selected sites. The University of Georgia will host the NCAA Championship in Athens, Ga., beginning on May 18. Singles and doubles action of the NCAA Championship will be help from May 23-28.
