Ten NCAA Tournament Teams Highlight Tough Tennis Schedule

2014-15 Kansas Women’s Tennis printable schedule (in PDF)

LAWRENCE, Kan. – Ten NCAA Tournament teams from a season ago, including five who were ranked in the final Top 25 poll, highlight the 2014-15 Kansas women’s tennis schedule, announced Friday by head coach Todd Chapman. The Jayhawks, who were ranked as high as 33rd in the country last season, will face one of the toughest schedules in program history.
 
The 2014 NCAA Tournament participants included on the 2014-15 KU schedule include: South Carolina (January 24), Wichita State (February 11), Houston (February 14), Denver (February 21), Texas Tech (March 15), Tulsa (April 8), Oklahoma State (April 10), Oklahoma (April 12), Baylor (April 17), and Texas (April 19). South Carolina, Oklahoma State, Oklahoma, and Texas all advanced to the second round of the tournament, while Baylor reached the Round of 16.
 
“The goal was to strengthen our schedule this season and I think we have,” said Chapman, who enters his second year at the helm of the Jayhawks. “I am very pleased with the schedule as it has a good mix of teams. There are several teams who were in the rankings at some point in time during the season or who finished in the final rankings. That is how you get better, by playing those teams. This schedule gives us the opportunity, if we win the matches we need to win, to achieve our goals.”
 
Three players return to the 2014-15 lineup: senior Maria Belen Ludueña, junior Maria Jose Cardona and sophomore Caroline Henderson. Coming off an 11-11 season (2-7 in Big 12 play), KU will welcome eight newcomers, including seven freshmen. The newcomers include freshmen Summer Collins, Alexis Czapinski, Madison Harrison, Smith Hinton, Melinda Johnson, Rachel McNeely, Lauren Pickens and sophomore transfer Jasmine Almaguer.
 
The Jayhawks will compete in four tournaments during the fall season, beginning with the Midland Invitational in Midland, Texas (Sept. 9-12), where last year Ludueña reached the quarterfinals. KU will also take part in the CCLR Invitational in Little Rock, Arkansas the same weekend. Concluding the fall slate is the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Regionals in Stillwater, Oklahoma (Oct. 16-19).
 
“The exciting part about our fall schedule is our players are going to get to play opponents from all over the country,” said Chapman. “These are challenging events. The fall season is designed for development and gaining confidence. We have eight new players, seven of whom are freshmen. I think this fall schedule will give them the truest idea of what college tennis is about.”
 
Spring play begins January 23, when the Jayhawks travel to New Mexico to take on the Lobos and South Carolina, a team that reached the second round of the NCAA tournament in 2014.
 
Kansas will then travel to Las Vegas for matches against UNLV, Pacific and New Mexico State. The Jayhawks then face a challenging stretch – on the road against Wichita State and Denver, sandwiched around a home match versus Houston. All three teams competed in the NCAA tournament last year.
 
Kansas will open the always-tough Big 12 Conference portion of its slate on March 13, with a home match versus TCU. KU will host five Big 12 Conference foes in 2015 and go on the road for four league matches. The home conference slate in addition to the TCU match includes Texas Tech (March 15), Iowa State (March 20), West Virginia (March 22) and Kansas State (April 4). KU will travel for Big 12 road matches at Oklahoma State (April 10), Oklahoma (April 12), Baylor (April 17) and Texas (April 19). The 2015 Big 12 Conference Championship will be held at Baylor April 23-26.
 
“Our spring schedule is a mix of different types of teams from different places,” said Chapman. “A good variety of competition gives us the best opportunity to reach our goals and have a chance to make the NCAA tournament.”
 
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