01-06-2025, 02:32 PM
Here's the spring schedule (using today's updated rankings for the top 25, but last year's season-ending rankings beyond that):
Jan. 16: vs. UC Davis
Jan. 24: vs. #51 Memphis (ITA Kickoff Weekend)
Jan. 25: vs. either #44 Ole Miss or #49 Utah
Feb. 7-11: ITA Indoor Nationals
Feb. 26: vs. St. Mary's
Feb. 28: vs. #52 UCSB
Mar. 7: vs. #62 Syracuse
Mar. 9: vs. Boston College
Mar. 14: vs. #34 SMU
Mar. 15: vs. #13 Cal
Mar. 21: at Virginia Tech
Mar. 23: at #9 Virginia
Mar. 28: at #23 Miami
Mar. 30: at #24 Florida State
Apr. 4: vs. #6 UNC
Apr. 5: vs. #11 Duke
Apr. 11: at #43 Wake Forest
Apr. 13: at #14 N.C. State
Apr. 15-20: ACC Championships (Cary, NC)
May 15-18: NCAA Team Championships
So, our annual non-conference matches with Texas and Pepperdine fall by the wayside, as our increased ACC load means fewer dates we can fit in non-conference opponents. Glad we get UNC and Duke at home--not looking forward to that particular road trip in future years....
Of note, when this schedule was originally announced, we had kept our UCLA match as a non-conference tilt on February 22, but now that match has disappeared. (On UCLA's schedule, it has been replaced by a road match at SDSU, with a road match at USD the following day.)
Of note, the ACC teams not on our schedule are #25 Georgia Tech, #32 Notre Dame, #56 Clemson, and unranked Louisville, going by the season-ending rankings. There is potentially room that weekend of Feb. 22-23 for another couple of home matches, and we've also got just the one match the following weekend when we play UCSB on the Friday. (UCLA has that weekend of Mar 1-2 open; USC could play that Sunday. But there's probably not enough goodwill to schedule those.) But it'll be a tougher schedule on average, especially with another couple of good matches in the ACC tournament and at Indoor Nationals.
I bet Eleana Yu has April 5 circled. I bet we do, too.
A quick note on Yu: I've said it before and I'll say it again, Yu should have played #6 over Xu last season, though her play didn't merit playing her any higher than that, and it was hardly criminal to decide on Xu over Yu there. Keeping her mostly on the bench sure looks like a mistake in hindsight, though. Not sure where the lineup shakes out, but I'd love to watch a Xu-Yu match.
Jan. 16: vs. UC Davis
Jan. 24: vs. #51 Memphis (ITA Kickoff Weekend)
Jan. 25: vs. either #44 Ole Miss or #49 Utah
Feb. 7-11: ITA Indoor Nationals
Feb. 26: vs. St. Mary's
Feb. 28: vs. #52 UCSB
Mar. 7: vs. #62 Syracuse
Mar. 9: vs. Boston College
Mar. 14: vs. #34 SMU
Mar. 15: vs. #13 Cal
Mar. 21: at Virginia Tech
Mar. 23: at #9 Virginia
Mar. 28: at #23 Miami
Mar. 30: at #24 Florida State
Apr. 4: vs. #6 UNC
Apr. 5: vs. #11 Duke
Apr. 11: at #43 Wake Forest
Apr. 13: at #14 N.C. State
Apr. 15-20: ACC Championships (Cary, NC)
May 15-18: NCAA Team Championships
So, our annual non-conference matches with Texas and Pepperdine fall by the wayside, as our increased ACC load means fewer dates we can fit in non-conference opponents. Glad we get UNC and Duke at home--not looking forward to that particular road trip in future years....
Of note, when this schedule was originally announced, we had kept our UCLA match as a non-conference tilt on February 22, but now that match has disappeared. (On UCLA's schedule, it has been replaced by a road match at SDSU, with a road match at USD the following day.)
Of note, the ACC teams not on our schedule are #25 Georgia Tech, #32 Notre Dame, #56 Clemson, and unranked Louisville, going by the season-ending rankings. There is potentially room that weekend of Feb. 22-23 for another couple of home matches, and we've also got just the one match the following weekend when we play UCSB on the Friday. (UCLA has that weekend of Mar 1-2 open; USC could play that Sunday. But there's probably not enough goodwill to schedule those.) But it'll be a tougher schedule on average, especially with another couple of good matches in the ACC tournament and at Indoor Nationals.
I bet Eleana Yu has April 5 circled. I bet we do, too.
A quick note on Yu: I've said it before and I'll say it again, Yu should have played #6 over Xu last season, though her play didn't merit playing her any higher than that, and it was hardly criminal to decide on Xu over Yu there. Keeping her mostly on the bench sure looks like a mistake in hindsight, though. Not sure where the lineup shakes out, but I'd love to watch a Xu-Yu match.