Men's Tennis Releases 2013 Spring Schedule
November 16, 2012 | Men's Tennis
Nov. 16, 2012
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - University of Louisville men's tennis coach Rex Ecarma has released the 2013 spring schedule. The Cards' dual match slate features seven teams in the top 25 of the final 2012 Intercollegiate Tennis Association rankings and 13 NCAA tournament participants.
"I am extremely excited about our tennis schedule and as usual it is extremely ambitious," said Ecarma. "We always have a mindset with this program that we will never succumb to status quo. We always want to achieve more each and every season. With our sport, to move up in the national rankings, you have to defeat teams in the national rankings. Without a national level schedule, it is nearly impossible at the end of the season to host the first and second round of the NCAA Tournament."
With that in mind, we play five Big Ten schools, five ACC schools, our current Big East rival Notre Dame, two future BIG EAST rivals in Boise State and Memphis, two Big 12 schools, one Pac-12 school, and perennial conference champions VCU and Harvard. This will be a huge test for the New Generation (Sebastian, Albert, Michael, Chris, Van and Luis) and this year's freshman class (Austin, Alex, Jeff, Colton, Gonzalo). These players, with Jonathan and Amaury, will be thrown in the 'fire' on a weekly basis and hopefully what comes out from that will be something special."
The Cards will travel to Boca Raton, Fla., Jan.2-6 for the Florida Atlantic Invitational and will open the dual match season on Jan. 13 against Nebraska at the Bass-Rudd Tennis Center - where they will play a total of 12 matches during the regular season.
Louisville will also play host to Morehead State and Duquesne in a doubleheader on Jan. 18 and before embarking on their first road trip to Northwestern on Jan. 20. The Cards will close out the month in Oxford Miss., where they will face NC State in the first round of the ITA National Kick-Off Weekend. Host 14th-ranked Mississippi and Columbia will square off in the other first round match.
February will bring a four-match road stretch in the first two weeks. The first weekend on the month, Cards will travel to Wake Forest and No. 16 North Carolina and will play Minnesota and Boise State in Minneapolis Feb. 8 and Feb. 10 respectively. Louisville returns to the Bass-Rudd Tennis Center for a doubleheader with Wright State and Eastern Kentucky on Feb. 15 before hitting the road with trips to Clemson and Virginia Tech in the final two weekends of February.
The Cards will open March at No. 24 Harvard before returning home to face a pair of top 25 opponents: No. 22 Indiana in a rematch of the first round of 2012 NCAA tournament; and No. 10 Oklahoma. The schedule doesn't get any easier as Louisville will go back on the road to face No. 4 Ohio State. The Cardinals close out the month with a four-match homestand against Arizona, Dayton, Xavier and No. 23 Texas Tech.
In April, Louisville will hit the road for Richmond, Va., to play VCU and Memphis and will wrap up the regular season against Notre Dame at the Bass-Rudd Tennis Center. That same week, the Cards will travel to South Bend in the hopes of defending their third-straight BIG EAST Conference Championship which will take place May 18-21.
"I realize that anytime you schedule like this there is some risk involved but I think all U of L sports teams are ambitious and that is why our department continues to grow in every way," said Ecarma. "Lastly, you add a tournament before the dual match season starts and the Big East and NCAA tournaments at the end, the tennis fans will have a lot to look forward to."
