Wake Forest Women's Tennis Releases 2010-11 Schedule
9/8/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
Sept. 8, 2010
2010-11 Women's Tennis Schedule | Printable Schedule 
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - The Wake Forest women's tennis team released its 2010-11 schedule, with the dual match slate containing 12 home contests, highlighted by matchups with 2010 Top 5 teams Notre Dame and North Carolina
The Deacs will host the Wake Forest Fall Invitational from Nov. 5-7, with scheduled participants NC State, LSU, Tennessee and Furman, and will also compete in three other fall tournaments. Wake Forest will open the season at the UVA Invite in Charlottesville, Va. from Sept. 17-19, before sending representatives to the Riviera/ITA Women's All-American Championships, held in Los Angeles, Calif. From Oct. 2-10. The Deacs will then travel down Tobacco Road to play in the ITA Carolina Regional tournament in Chapel Hill, N.C. from Oct. 21-25.
"Our fall schedule is probably just what we need this year," said first-year head coach Jeff Wyshner. "The competition will be top notch at each of the four events, and the events are spread out which should allow us to get ready, compete, assess how we did, work at a couple things and then compete again. We've had some really intense practices already, and if we keep that up then I think we will be really well-prepared for the Carolina Regional in late-October and our own tournament in early November."
The Deacons will begin their dual match season in January with home matches against Richmond and Winthrop before welcoming Virginia to Winston-Salem, N.C. for a non-conference test. The schedule does not get any easier as Wake Forest will host 2010 NCAA semifinalist Notre Dame on Feb. 6 and then travel to face 2010 NCAA quarterfinalist Tennessee in Knoxville, Tenn. on Feb. 13.
Wake Forest's non-conference schedule also includes a trip to Texas to face TCU and Texas A&M, as well as home matches against Old Dominion and William and Mary.
"Our non-conference schedule is amazing," said Wyshner. "We get 2009 and 2010 NCAA semifinalist in Notre Dame to visit us in early February. That will be a great match for people to come out and see us play. We also have a great trip to Texas to play two great teams there. It is a little scary because there aren't any soft spots from beginning to end, but the players and I didn't come to Wake Forest to have soft spots in our match schedule. This schedule will make us a better team and better players, and that is what I want Demon Deacons tennis to be about."
Wake will open conference play at home against NC State on Feb. 27, and the home ACC slate includes 2010 NCAA semifinalist North Carolina, as well as last 2010 Top 15 teams Clemson and Georgia Tech.
Overall this season, the Deacons will play 15 matches against teams that finished 2010 ranked by the ITA, and eight matches against teams that ended the season in the Top 15.
"It goes without saying that we have one of the best conference schedules in the country," said Wyshner. "Every match in the ACC presents a huge challenge, but the real challenge is each day between now and those matches. Are we out-working our ACC rivals that tiny little bit each day or are they out-working us each day?"
The 2010-11 season will be Wyshner's first at the helm of the Demon Deacons. He took over as Wake Forest's head women's tennis coach after four years as the head women's tennis coach at Akron. In his final season as the coach of the Zips, Wyshner led the team to a 19-3 overall record and a second place finish in the Mid-American Conference.
The Deacs will look to rebound from their 2009-10 campaign that saw them go 11-14 and fail to receive an NCAA Tournament bid for the first time in six seasons. Wake returns 2010 All-ACC honoree Martina Pavelec, as well as last year's freshman standout Kathryn Talbert. The Deacons add junior transfer Kayla Duncan to this year's squad. Duncan, a Winston-Salem native, was a two-time All-Mountain West honoree at TCU and finished 2010 ranked No. 27 in the nation in doubles.
Players Mentioned
