July 31, 2009
SAN DIEGO - San Diego State women's tennis head coach Peter Mattera released his team's schedule for the 2009-10 season on Friday. The Aztecs, who are coming off an NCAA Tournament appearance last year, will stay within city limits for three tournaments in the fall and will play host to 13 matches in the spring.
SDSU will open its season with the first of two SDSU Fall Classics on Oct. 2-4 at Aztec Tennis Center. Following a two-and-a-half-week break, San Diego State will travel west on Interstate 8 and co-host the ITA West Regionals at Barnes Tennis Center, Oct. 22-26, before wrapping up competition with the second SDSU Fall Classic, Nov. 6-8.
The Aztecs return to the courts in January and open the dual-match season with three consecutive home contests. UC Riverside and Cal State Fullerton will make the trip south to Montezuma Mesa to take on SDSU in a doubleheader on Jan. 23. The tilt vs. the Highlanders is set for 9 a.m., while the clash with the Titans will start at approximately 3:30 p.m. A week later, the Scarlet and Black will conclude the homestand against a third Big West Conference foe when it welcomes UC Irvine on Jan. 30 at noon.
After going head-to-head with the Anteaters, San Diego State will embark on its first road trip of the year and take on Gonzaga, Feb. 6, in Seattle, Wash. First serve is slated for noon. The next day, the Aztecs will return to the court to face Washington at 11 a.m. The Huskies advanced to the Round of 16 in last season's NCAA Tournament.
Following a brief visit to the Pacific Northwest, SDSU returns home to play six of its next eight matches at Aztec Tennis Center. San Diego State plays host to Hawai'i on Feb. 11 at 2 p.m., before traveling to Tucson to face Arizona on Feb. 20. Three days later, the Aztecs take on another Pac-10 Conference member in USC (Feb. 23; 2 p.m.), which signals the first of three straight home matches. NCAA Tournament participant Sacramento State comes in after the Women of Troy (Feb. 27; noon), who also advanced to the postseason in 2009, and is followed by Eastern Michigan (March 2; 2 p.m.).
A trip to Berkeley and the University of California, who were NCAA finalists a year ago, is where the schedule takes SDSU on March 5 (1:30 p.m.) before returning home to face Loyola Marymount (2 p.m.) and Saint Mary's (11 a.m.) on March 10 and 13, respectively.
The Aztecs begin the Mountain West Conference portion of the schedule at MWC Tournament finalists and NCAA Tournament participant UNLV on March 24. The task doesn't get any easier with trips to Brigham Young on April 1 and Utah on April 3, to go along with neutral-site matches in Las Vegas against MWC Tournament champion and NCAA participant TCU (April 9) and New Mexico (April 11).
After a five-match conference road swing, the Aztecs play host to Colorado State, Wyoming and Air Force on April 15-17, respectively, with the Rams and Cowgirls matches set for 2 p.m., and the tilt with the Falcons slated for 10 a.m. SDSU will then close out the regular season at home vs. San Diego on April 19 at 4 p.m., before heading back to Las Vegas for the MWC Tournament, which is set for April 28-May 1.