TCU Women’s Tennis Releases 2019 Fall Schedule
9/24/2019 3:29:00 PM | Women's Tennis
TCU will welcome Georgia, Texas A&M and Texas Tech for Big 12 vs. SEC challenge
FORT WORTH – TCU women's tennis head coach Lee Taylor Walker has announced the 2019 fall schedule, including a three-day, three-opponent weekend at the Bayard H. Friedman Tennis Center Sept. 27-29.
The Frogs open the season with the Big 12 vs SEC Challenge, hosted by TCU. The Frogs will welcome 2019 NCAA runner-up Georgia along with Texas A&M and Texas Tech for the fall season premier. All four teams present finished the 2019 season ranked in the Oracle/ITA National Rankings (TAMU at No. 17 and TTU at No. 29).
"We have one of the most beautiful facilities in the country here at TCU," head coach Lee Walker said. "There's nothing quite like playing on the purple courts. I'm excited to watch our team compete this weekend. Georgia was National Indoor Champions and NCAA runner-up last year, Texas A&M made Sweet 16, and Texas Tech was top 25 the majority of year. Their level is where we expect our program to be and I really believe in our team is capable of getting there this year. To have 3 quality teams like this on our home courts in September will give us a great benchmark of where we are right now."
From there, the Frogs hit the road as Aleksa Cveticanin and Mercedes Aristegui earned a spot in the All-American National Championships in Tulsa. Competition begins October 5 and runs through October 13.
"Despite battling injuries all last year, Aleksa and Mercedes had solid years and earned their invitation to the All-American tournament," Walker said. "They both have trained hard this first month, and I'm hopeful they can make a deep run in Tulsa."
The following weekend (Oct. 17-20), TCU will send a significant contingency to College Station to compete in the ITA Regional Championships with the goal of earning a spot in the ITA Fall National Championships at Newport Beach in November (Nov. 7-10).
"Because of the amount of injuries we had last year, we didn't even send a single player to the Regional Championships," Walker said. "I'm looking forward to sending nearly the whole squad this year, and having some earn their way to ITA Fall Nationals."
Any members of the team that do not qualify for Nationals will travel to Baton Rouge for the LSU Invite (Nov. 8-10). TCU will go up against members of the LSU, Princeton and Oklahoma squads, each of which finished the 2019 season ranked in the Top 30 of the Oracle/ITA National poll.
"Marie Norris has been rehabbing and training so professionally," Walker said. "She's our captain and we can't wait to see her compete at LSU once she is finally cleared. It's been a long road to recovery for her, but she's going to bring a lot of experience and confidence to our team, and we are just overall encouraged about her progress."
The schedule is daunting, containing six of the top programs in the country from last season. But as assistant coach Christopher Williams explains, that's a challenge the team is ready for.
"We worked hard putting together a schedule that shows how much Lee and I believe in this team," Williams said. "We want to give our ladies every opportunity to be great and this fall schedule does exactly that. We will compete efficiently while maximizing our time to install our system and by spring, we will be prepared to play the best teams in the country."
The Frogs open the season with the Big 12 vs SEC Challenge, hosted by TCU. The Frogs will welcome 2019 NCAA runner-up Georgia along with Texas A&M and Texas Tech for the fall season premier. All four teams present finished the 2019 season ranked in the Oracle/ITA National Rankings (TAMU at No. 17 and TTU at No. 29).
"We have one of the most beautiful facilities in the country here at TCU," head coach Lee Walker said. "There's nothing quite like playing on the purple courts. I'm excited to watch our team compete this weekend. Georgia was National Indoor Champions and NCAA runner-up last year, Texas A&M made Sweet 16, and Texas Tech was top 25 the majority of year. Their level is where we expect our program to be and I really believe in our team is capable of getting there this year. To have 3 quality teams like this on our home courts in September will give us a great benchmark of where we are right now."
From there, the Frogs hit the road as Aleksa Cveticanin and Mercedes Aristegui earned a spot in the All-American National Championships in Tulsa. Competition begins October 5 and runs through October 13.
"Despite battling injuries all last year, Aleksa and Mercedes had solid years and earned their invitation to the All-American tournament," Walker said. "They both have trained hard this first month, and I'm hopeful they can make a deep run in Tulsa."
The following weekend (Oct. 17-20), TCU will send a significant contingency to College Station to compete in the ITA Regional Championships with the goal of earning a spot in the ITA Fall National Championships at Newport Beach in November (Nov. 7-10).
"Because of the amount of injuries we had last year, we didn't even send a single player to the Regional Championships," Walker said. "I'm looking forward to sending nearly the whole squad this year, and having some earn their way to ITA Fall Nationals."
Any members of the team that do not qualify for Nationals will travel to Baton Rouge for the LSU Invite (Nov. 8-10). TCU will go up against members of the LSU, Princeton and Oklahoma squads, each of which finished the 2019 season ranked in the Top 30 of the Oracle/ITA National poll.
"Marie Norris has been rehabbing and training so professionally," Walker said. "She's our captain and we can't wait to see her compete at LSU once she is finally cleared. It's been a long road to recovery for her, but she's going to bring a lot of experience and confidence to our team, and we are just overall encouraged about her progress."
The schedule is daunting, containing six of the top programs in the country from last season. But as assistant coach Christopher Williams explains, that's a challenge the team is ready for.
"We worked hard putting together a schedule that shows how much Lee and I believe in this team," Williams said. "We want to give our ladies every opportunity to be great and this fall schedule does exactly that. We will compete efficiently while maximizing our time to install our system and by spring, we will be prepared to play the best teams in the country."
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