WTEN Announces 2017 Slate
11/9/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
FORT WORTH, Texas - TCU women's tennis coach Lee Taylor Walker announced the 2017 spring schedule on Wednesday, with the Horned Frogs set to take on at least 13 opponents across 15 matches who finished the 2015-16 season ranked nationally.
TCU, who finished the season ranked No. 31 in the country, will face at least nine opponents across 11 matches who participated in the NCAA Championships last year. The Frogs will compete in 11 matches at the Bayard H. Friedman Tennis Center in the spring of 2017, while also facing the NCAA Championship runner-up twice during the regular season.
"I feel this is the first spring we've been able to fully implement a healthy competition schedule that includes teams from all of the nation's best conferences," Walker said. "In order to be ready for post-season play, one has to feel like their regular season really tested them and brought out the best. I know that come May we will have competed against the best teams in the country home and away and there will be nothing to fear when beginning our NCAA tournament. I'm excited about our schedule, and I know our seniors are grateful to play the best in the country in their final season of competition."
TCU starts spring action on Jan. 21 by traveling to Abilene, Texas to face-off with UTEP and the host Wildcats in a double header. The team will then round out the month by traveling to Stillwater, Okla., to compete in the ITA National Kick-Off Weekend at the Greenwood Tennis Center. TCU will take on Wichita State in a rematch of last year's NCAA First Round match, while weekend host Oklahoma State as well as Cornell will also be on hand. The winner of the four-team tournament will advance to the ITA National Indoor Championship on the campus of Yale in New Haven, Conn., on Feb. 10-13.
The first home matches on the schedule for TCU will take place on Feb. 3 and 5 when they host two Pac-12 opponents in Washington and Oregon at the Bayard H. Friedman Tennis Center. The team will end the home stretch with a match against Alabama on Feb. 18 at 1 p.m., before hitting the road to wrap-up the month at Duke on Feb. 25 and at Texas A&M on Feb. 28.
TCU opens the month of March on the road for a non-conference showdown with Texas Tech on March 4 at Noon before returning home to face North Texas on March 8 at 5:30 p.m. Conference action for the 2017 spring will begin away for the second straight season as the team will travel to the state of Kansas to face the Jayhawks on March 10 before concluding the trip with Kansas State on March 12.
A non-conference match with Columbia awaits the Frogs when they return to the Bernard J. 'Tut' Bartzen Varsity Courts on March 19 at 1 p.m. A quick trip to Austin to face Texas on March 26 follows and then the team will remain within the friendly confines of the Friedman Tennis Center for six straight matches beginning with Oklahoma on March 31 at 5:30 p.m.
Oklahoma State will make their way to Fort Worth on April 2 followed by a double-header with Louisiana Tech and West Virginia on April 7. Conference action at home will conclude with Iowa State on April 9 before welcoming Texas Tech on April 15. The regular season wraps-up on the road as the Frogs travel to Waco, Texas to face Baylor on April 19 at 6 p.m.
The Frogs will start postseason play by heading to Norman, Okla. for the 2017 Big 12 Championships on April 27-30. The first and second rounds of NCAA Championship action begins on May 12-14 on campus sites. Georgia will host the NCAA Team Championships and NCAA Singles and Doubles Championships on May 18-29 at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex in Athens, Ga.
In the second season under Walker, TCU finished with a 16-8 record and tied for second in the Big 12 conference standings for the second consecutive season. The team competed in the NCAA Championships for the 17th time in program history and 11th time in the last 13 seasons, while making it to the second round for the second straight season and eighth time in program history. The Frogs return seven letterwinners and welcome two newcomers.
