Men's Tennis 2006-07 Schedule Set
August 11, 2006 | Men's Tennis
Aug. 11, 2006
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - - University of Louisville head men's tennis coach Rex Ecarma has announced the schedule for the 2006-07 season. The Cardinals will face nine NCAA tournament teams, including 2006 champion and top-ranked Pepperdine. Also on the slate are four teams ranked in the top 20 and 11 teams in the top 50.
"Even though we lost close to 70% of our starting line-up, I am optimistic that the returning players will fill the void in leadership and this highly-rated recruiting class will fill in the talent gaps," said Ecarma. "I promise my players a great schedule every year and I don't want to play it safe just because we are very young. We played a blockbuster schedule this past season and it paid major dividends in our success. Like I tell my players, you can never see the world if you stay close to shore. When you play a schedule in which close to two-thirds of opponents were in the NCAA tournament is risky, but exciting as well."
Louisville will open the fall season at the Southern Intercollegiate Championship in Athens, Ga., September 8-10. The following week, the will travel to Charlottesville Virginia to compete in the Virginia Invitational. The Cards will close out September at the Baylor Invitational and the Cincinnati Intercollegiate.
Selected members of the team will play in the ITA Ralph Polo Lauren All-American Championships October 2-8 in Tulsa, Okla. The Cardinals will host the ninth-annual Louisville Fall Invitational at the Bass-Rudd Tennis Center October 6-8. The team will close out the fall season at the Omni Regional October 19-24 in Minneapolis.
The Cards will open the 2007 spring season at Northwestern on January 14. Western Michigan will visit the Bass-Rudd Tennis Center January 20 and South Alabama will also pay a visit to the Cardinals' home court on January 27. February will prove to be a busy month as U of L closes its early homestand on February 2 with a doubleheader against in-state rivals Morehead State and Murray State. The rest of the month will feature a seven match road swing. The Cards head to Seattle for the Great Northwest Shootout where they will face Texas Tech, Washington and Middle Tennessee February 9-11. The following week, Louisville comes back across the country to Blacksburg, Va., and play Brown and Virginia Tech February 17-18. Finally, the Cardinals will close the month in North Carolina when they visit North Carolina State and Wake Forest February 24-25.
After nearly two weeks off, U of L returns to the friendly confines of the Bass-Rudd Tennis Center to face William & Mary on March 11 before going back on the road to Montgomery, Ala., for the Blue-Gray Invitational March 15-18. The Cards travel to Knoxville to take on Tennessee on March 25 and fly to Malibu, Calif., to face 2006 NCAA champion Pepperdine on March 31. Louisville returns home for a BIG EAST matchup with South Florida on April 6. Virginia Commonwealth will also visit the BRTC on April 8. The Cards will celebrate senior day on April 14 when BIG EAST foe Notre Dame comes to town. The final match of the regular season will feature a rematch of last season's 2006 conference championship in which the Cards defeated the Irish to win the league crown. The 2007 BIG EAST Championship will be held in Tampa, Fla., April 19-21.
The Cardinals finished the 2006 season with a 19-8 overall record, which includes an HEB Collegiate Team Championship, a BIG EAST Tournament Championship, and their third consecutive NCAA team tournament appearance where the Cards advanced to the regional finals. On March 14, Louisville achieved the program's highest national ranking at No. 12 and never fell out of the top 35, finished the season ranked 26th in the nation.
