Upstate Women's Tennis Announces Complete 2008-09 Schedule
7/31/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
July 31, 2008
SPARTANBURG, S.C. - What better way to follow up a season in which the USC Upstate women's tennis team won the first league title in program history than by notching up the competition in 2008-09 in the team's second season in the NCAA Division I Atlantic Sun Conference. Upstate faces 11 opponents in their 19-dual meet schedule that finished 2008 with non-losing records and will square off with three NCAA Tournament teams, head coach Alessandro De Marzo announced on Thursday.
In the spring season, which is typically set in a dual meet format, the Spartans will become road warriors, hosting six dual matches and just one non-conference match. The season begins on Jan. 26 when Upstate travels to traditional local rival, Presbyterian. The next weekend, Upstate heads to Troy (1/30) and Alabama State (1/31) for matches before heading to UNC Wilmington (2/7), which won 18 matches in 2008, the following weekend.
The road swing kicks into high gear after that, as Upstate faces Charleston Southern (2/14), which finished 2008 with a 9-9 mark, Winthrop (2/16), the 2008 Big South champions, S.C. State (2/22), the 2008 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference champions, and Georgia Southern (3/1), which finished 11-11 in 2008.
Upstate finally opens its home slate on March 6 as they start their defense of the A-Sun title by facing Belmont. Lipscomb visits on March 7 and Wofford, which went 12-8 in 2008, reignites the crosstown rivalry by visiting the Upstate Tennis Complex on March 8.
The Spartans then head into the heart of their A-Sun slate, facing Mercer (3/14), Kennesaw State (3/15), Campbell (3/21), Florida Gulf Coast (4/2) and Stetson (4/4) on the road and hosting A-Sun Tournament champions Jacksonville (3/27), North Florida (3/28) and ETSU (4/7).
Upstate will participate in six fall tournaments including their own USC Upstate Tennis Tournament to kick off the season on Sept. 12. The fall season is typically when collegiate tennis teams participate in tournaments and emphasizes individual development. The spring schedule, which will feature only dual meets, will be released at a later date.
After the two-day Upstate tournament, the Spartans travel to the Wolfpack Invitational at N.C. State from Sept. 19-21. The next weekend, De Marzo plans on sending at least senior Anna Novo (Caracas, Venezuela/El-Angel), the 2008 Atlantic Sun Conference Player of the Year, to the Riviera/ITA Women's All-American Championships in Pacific Palisades, Calif. The tournament, one of two ITA National Tournaments during the fall, will include nearly 500 entries in the 10-day event.
Upstate will also compete in Wofford's tournament on Oct. 3-4 and travel to Elon for a tournament on Oct. 10-11. Those two tournaments will prepare the team for the ITA Southeast Regionals, the second ITA National Tournament, at Wake Forest from Oct. 23-27. If a Spartan makes the finals in the singles or doubles portion of the regional, they will advance to the ITA National Indoor Championships.
Upstate finished the 2008 season 17-3 overall and a perfect 11-0 in the Atlantic Sun Conference to win the school's first Atlantic Sun Conference title. The Spartans, in their first year of Division I competition, were not eligible for postseason competition as a provisional member of DI. Their first year of eligibility for postseason play is 2011-12.
