Women's Tennis Releases 2019-20 Slate
9/11/2019 12:18:00 PM | Women's Tennis
RALEIGH – Head coach Simon Earnshaw has released the 2019-20 NC State women's tennis schedule, as announced on Wednesday. The team looks to build on a historic 2018-19 season, during which it broke the program record for most wins in a season after collecting 24 victories.
In 2020, NC State looks to extend its program-record streak of four consecutive berths to the NCAA Championships.
"Coming off an incredible 2019 season, we needed to try and ramp up the schedule even further for 2020," said head coach Simon Earnshaw. "The ACC continues to be the premier league in women's tennis, and I expect the conference schedule to be every bit as rugged, if not even more of a challenge, next spring.
"Outside of conference play we've added four teams that reached the NCAA Sweet 16 last season: South Carolina, Texas, Kansas and USC, as well as continuing our series with Texas Tech. As usual, we have several tough doubleheaders, and our ITA Kick-Off weekend includes three extremely strong opponents starting with Rice and with Florida and Oklahoma playing on the other side of the bracket. We couldn't be more excited about what lies ahead. The summer has been a continuation of our spring, and we are looking forward to getting back to competing these next few weeks. Go Pack!"
Fall 2019
The Wolfpack kicks off the 2019-20 season in Charlottesville, Va., at the UVA Invitational Sept. 20-22. The USTA Fall Ranked Spotlight (Sept. 27-29) in Lake Nona, Fla., closes out the September slate for the team.
The next week, Tulsa, Okla., plays host to the ITA All-American Championships, which is set to run from Oct. 5-13 and provides an opportunity for players to earn an automatic bid to the ITA Fall National Championships.
The Pack will also have another chance to earn a spot at the fall championships at the ITA Carolina Regional in Winston-Salem, N.C., which will be held Oct. 24-28.
Staying in North Carolina, the team competes at the Kitty Harrison Invitational Nov. 1-3 in Chapel Hill, N.C.
The final event on the 2019 docket is the ITA Fall National Championships in Newport Beach, Calif., from Nov. 6-10. The event features 128 of the nation's top collegiate singles players (64 men and 64 women) and 64 doubles teams (32 men's team and 32 women's teams).
Spring 2020
The spring slate features at least 19 teams that were ranked in last season's final edition of the Oracle/ITA Division I Women's rankings, including 10 top-25 and four top-10 opponents. The J.W. Isenhour Tennis Center will play host to 16 home matches for the Wolfpack.The Pack opens the spring season at the USTA National Campus Jan. 10-12 in Lake Nona, Fla., at the Orlando Invitational. Returning to Raleigh for its home opener, the team will face No. 55 Furman and East Tennessee State on Jan. 15 followed by a doubleheader with Charlotte and fifth-ranked South Carolina on Jan. 18. The Pack rounds out January facing East Carolina and Appalachian State at home.
Thanks to the top-15 finish in the final rankings for the 2019 season, NC State plays host as a regional site to the 2020 ITA Kick-Off Weekend. The event takes place Jan. 25-26, and the Pack will enter the tournament as the No. 1 seed, welcoming No. 24 Florida, No. 32 Oklahoma, and No. 40 Rice to Raleigh.
The squad looks to return to the ITA National Team Indoor Championships Feb. 7-9 in Chicago, Ill., by winning its regional. The Pack earned the program's first spot in the championships draw last season after defeating Mississippi State and Florida at the regional site in Gainesville, Fla.
NC State ends the month with ninth-ranked Texas in Atlanta, Ga.
Kicking off a four-match road trip after a home matchup with 13th-ranked Kansas on Feb. 2, the team travels to Lubbock, Texas, for matchups with No. 29 Texas Tech and Abilene Christian on Feb. 15 before opening ACC play at No. 47 Notre Dame on Feb. 21 and at Louisville Feb. 23. The Pack then returns home to welcome No. 23 Wake Forest to Raleigh on Feb. 28.
Over the course of March, NC State plays hosts to ACC foes No. 21 Virginia (March 1), No. 30 Syracuse (March 20) and No. 43 Boston College (March 22). The team faces Virginia Tech (March 6), No. 68 Clemson (March 8), No. 16 USC (March 13), No. 20 Miami (March 27) and No. 15 Florida State (March 29) on the road.
In the final month before the NCAA Championships, the Pack faces No. 35 Georgia Tech on April 3 and fourth-ranked Duke on April 8 before making the short trip to Chapel Hill for a matchup with the third-ranked Tar Heels on April 10. That match will be played on the front end of a doubleheader that concludes at the J.W. Isenhour Tennis Center, as the Pack plays host to Winthrop to close out the day on April 10.
NC State begins its postseason in Rome, Ga., at the ACC Championships from April 15-19.
The 2020 NCAA Championships will kick off in May with regional action at selected host sites. After two rounds of regional action, 16 teams will advance to compete in the Super Regionals. From there, the teams will move on to the NCAA Championships, which is set to be held in Stillwater, Okla.
Last season, the Pack finished 24-7 (11-3 ACC). After hosting the first and second rounds of the NCAA Championships, the squad advanced to the Sweet 16 as a team, marking the program's first trip.
Individually, Anna Rogers and Alana Smith earned designation as a top-eight seed in the NCAA Doubles Championships draw, and Rogers was a top-16 seed in the NCAA Singles Championships bracket. They became the program's first players to gain status at All-Americans, with Rogers garnering All-America honors in both singles and doubles and Smith joining her as a doubles honoree.
The squad concluded the spring 2019 season tabbed at No. 11 in the final Oracle/ITA Division I Team Rankings, the program's best finish to date.
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