Men’s Tennis | Tough tests for men’s tennis

NASHVILLE, Tenn. More than half of the spring 2023 Vanderbilt men’s tennis schedule unveiled by head coach Ian Duvenhage on Wednesday is coming to the NCAA Championships, highlighted by eight schools that finished in the top 25 at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association’s final competition last May. .

In all, 17 of the 23 possible foes the Commodores will face were included in the ITA rankings at the end of the 2021-22 season.

We are excited to get started in the spring and see how we do in the competition, Duvenhage said.

After opening at the Yale Martin Luther King Invitational on 14-16 January Dores will face NCAA Sweet 16 participant USC, which finished the spring 13th in the final ITA rankings, on the opening day of the ITA Kickoff Weekend on January 28 in Los Angeles. , closed the event against either Memphis or UCLA. Vandy opens February with a six-game homestand beginning on February 4th against Princeton and also against Tennessee State later that day before facing Rice on February 12th. The following weekend, the Commodores host Florida Atlantic (Feb. 18) on Saturday before Sunday’s doubleheader featuring Oklahoma State and Belmont. Nonconference play ends on February 26, the date of Northwestern, which ended last spring in the 31st nation after winning it in the first round of the NCAA Tournament match.

Eleven SEC schools on the Commodores’ schedule were ranked in the top 50 in the final ITA rankings last spring, 10 of which went to the NCAA Championships.

Vandy opens league play at home March 2 against Arkansas, and other Currey Tennis Center visitors include South Carolina (March 4), Florida (March 18), Mississippi State (March 24), Ole Miss (March 25) and Texas. A&M (April 7) in the home finale. The Dores visit Tennessee (March 9), which reached the NCAA Tournament semifinals last spring, Georgia (March 11), Alabama (March 31), Auburn (April 2), NCAA runner-up Kentucky (April 9) and at LSU (April 16). ).

During SEC action, Vanderbilt also hosts Alabama A&M (March 4) and Butler (March 18) as part of doubleheaders.

The league championship will be hosted by Auburn from the 19th to the 23rd. April, and the NCAA Championships begin on May 5.

The Commodores finished last spring with a 14-12 overall record and ranked 55th in the final ITA rankings.