UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Penn State Nittany Lion men's tennis team has announced its 2018-19 schedule. In addition to the two tournaments the team will play in the fall season, the Nittany Lions will also host 12 dual matches to go with ten road contests.
Penn State will open up the fall season on Oct. 18-21 in Blacksburg, Va., with ITA Regionals. The following weekend, qualified players will travel to Ann Arbor, Mich. to compete in the Big Ten Indoor Championship to wrap up the fall season.
"Our fall schedule is focused hard on ITA Regionals and Big Ten Indoors," said head coach Jeff Zinn. "Our training is designed to peak for these two tournaments because doing well in Regionals means we will be ranked in the first ITA Rankings, and doing well in Big Ten Indoors means we will have an advantage going into the Big Ten spring season."
"Usually when the players return, the first few weeks are about working out some rustiness, but honestly, they look just as good now as they did last spring," said associate head coach Paul Tobin. "They key is going to be staying focused in the fall and really developing as competitors."
The Nittany Lions will start the spring portion of their schedule in the same place they began the fall, in Blacksburg, Va. for the Virginia Tech Invitational, Jan. 19-21.
The Blue and White will face Charlotte in their home opener on Feb. 8. Two days later, the team will travel to Princeton, N.J. to take on the Tigers.
The road match will be followed by a three-game home tilt, ending with defending Big Ten Tournament Champion, Ohio State on March 1.
Over the week of spring break, Penn State will travel to Orlando, Fla. to take on Florida Gulf Coast and University of Central Florida on the USTA National Campus, March 6-8.
The Nittany Lions will return home for a six-game home stand, starting with conference opponent Michigan on March 22. The team will end the stand against two other Big Ten opponents, Minnesota on March 29 and Wisconsin on March 31.
In its final away contests of the season, Penn State will face off against four conference teams to open up April action, starting with Iowa April 3 and Nebraska on April 7. The Blue and White will then play Illinois on April 12 followed by Northwestern two days later, before heading home to finish up the season.
To close out the 2018-19 regular season, the Nittany Lions will take on Indiana April 19 and end with Purdue two days later in one final Sunday showdown.
"As a staff, we try very hard to get the best teams to come to Happy Valley for home matches," Zinn said. "We feel we have accomplished that with some highly-ranked teams visiting us in the spring. We have to play the best to be the best, and that is always our goal. The Big Ten conference is loaded again this year with quality teams from top to bottom. It will be a fun season with great competition."
The Penn State men's tennis schedule for 2018-19 can be found at http://www.gopsusports.com/sports/m-tennis/sched/psu-m-tennis-sched.html.
Keep up with the Penn State men's tennis team at GoPSUsports.com. For continued updates throughout the year, make sure to `like' our Facebook page at Penn State Men's Tennis and follow our twitter @pennstateMTEN.
