Jayhawks release 2017-18 schedule
LAWRENCE, Kan. – Kansas women’s tennis head coach Todd Chapman released the 2017-18 schedule, which features six fall tournaments and a spring tournament followed by 20 dual matches.
The Jayhawks will host two fall tournaments at the Jayhawk Tennis Center at Rock Chalk Park. First, KU will play host to 30 teams for the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Central Regional Championships the weekend of October 19-23. The following weekend, the Jayhawk Tennis Center will be the site of the Kansas Invitational. Joining Kansas will be Auburn, Texas Tech, Washington and Maryland.
“We’re really excited about the fall and spring schedule that we’ve put together for our program this year,” said Chapman. “We have four or five really good opportunities in the fall for our players to really play at the highest-national level events that we’ve played in my past five seasons.
“We’re really pushing the envelope with the competition that we’re putting our players against this fall. I think it will really give them an opportunity from a rankings standpoint, but also from a preparation and experience standpoint to put us in a great position going into our spring schedule.”
Before getting into the dual-match portion of the schedule, Kansas will take part in the Florida Gulf Coast Invitational January 13-15.
The 2018 spring schedule will have a postseason feel to it as 14 out of the 20 total opponents the Jayhawks will see participated in the 2017 NCAA Tournament. Starting dual play against two Big Ten teams, KU will face Michigan (Jan. 21) and Ohio State (Jan. 26) on their home courts before facing a few familiar opponents as well as hosting a couple first-time meetings in Oregon (Feb. 16) and Gonzaga (March 4).
“The spring schedule – we’re really excited about it,” said Chapman. “It’s going to be really tough. I didn’t do us any favors in scheduling, but that goes with our philosophy as a program as far as how we approach the spring season and how we schedule things. Our plan and goal is to be playing tennis in May in the NCAA Championships. To prepare our team for that, we need to give them as many opportunities in the spring to be prepared to play their best tennis at that time of year.”
In Big 12 Conference play, Kansas will host Baylor (March 12), Texas (March 16), Oklahoma State (March 20) and Oklahoma (March 22). The Jayhawks will hit the road for five-straight matches against Big 12 opponents in Texas Tech (March 23), TCU (March 25), Iowa State (April 6), West Virginia (April 8) and Kansas State (April 15).
“I think last year was as deep as I’ve seen the Big 12 and nothing would change my thoughts going into this year,” said Chapman. “I think we’ll have at least seven teams that have the opportunity, maybe potentially more than seven, to make the NCAA Tournament. Six made it last year and one just barely missed out on making it. I think it’s set up for the same situation this year, which is exciting. We know we’re going to be tested throughout the conference. Our goal here at KU is to play for championships. We definitely hope and believe we have the ability and capability to be in the mix this year. We’re excited to see where we stack up.”
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