UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Penn State men's tennis team and head coach Jeff Zinn announced the Nittany Lions' 2023 spring schedule on Wednesday, which features 16 home matches in Happy Valley.
"I feel we achieved our goal of having a very balanced schedule between our non conference schedule and our Big 10 schedule," said head coach Zinn. "We have a lot of good teams coming to Happy Valley for the fans to come out and support the team. We have a good regional representation so we can see where we are both regionally and nationally. Our top goal is to always make the NCAA Tournament and we feel we have the right mix and balance to the schedule to compete for that goal."
The Nittany Lions present a complete schedule consisting of nine Big Ten matches and 16 non-conference contests.
Penn State hosts its first 11 matches of the spring season at home in University Park, Pa. Kicking off their schedule on Jan. 22, the Nittany Lions will face Delaware and Georgetown in a doubleheader.
The Blue and White then welcome Duquesne and St. Francis on Jan. 28, before hosting Drexel and Mount St. Mary's on Feb. 4. Capping off their doubleheader slate, Penn State takes on Penn and Villanova the next day (Feb. 5).
Penn State will face Princeton on Feb. 10 in a home match, before hosting William & Mary on Sunday, Feb. 12.
The Nittany Lions will finish their 11-match non-conference homestand against St. Johns on Feb. 22.
A trip to Liberty on Feb. 24 opens Penn State's travel campaign, followed quickly by a road match versus South Florida (Feb. 25).
Penn State will then travel to Bryant (March 4), Dartmouth (March 5), and take a spring break trip to Florida Gulf Coast (March 11). The Nittany Lions will head back home for one more match against Cornell on March 19 before beginning their conference schedule.
Head coach Zinn's squad heads to Illinois (March 24) and Northwestern (March 26) to open their Big Ten slate. Continuing conference action, the Nittany Lions come back to Happy Valley for a pair of home matches against Wisconsin (March 31) and Nebraska (April 2).
Penn State will then travel to Michigan on April 7 to face the reigning Big Ten champions, before closing out the weekend against Michigan State (April 9). In another conference away match, the Nittany Lions take on Ohio State on April 15.
The Blue and White will finish off the regular season at home in the Sarni Tennis Center against Indiana (April 22) and Purdue (April 23).
Following the regular season, Penn State will compete in the Big Ten Tournament hosted by Indiana at the IU Tennis Stadium in Bloomington, Ind. from April 27-30. The NCAA Men's Tennis Tournament will be held from May 5-7.
"I think everybody's pretty anxious to get the season started," said associate head coach Paul Tobin. "We had some issues during the fall, some players were injured and sick, so hopefully everyone will be healthy for the time to get back from December break. We're starting off with doubleheaders to help us get some momentum, but everybody's good these days so we have to be at our best. The Big Ten is looking pretty strong this year, we have several additions to the roster that I think will help tremendously. Looking forward to it."
Keep up with the team at GoPSUSports.com for coverage of the Penn State men's tennis team during the season, Keep up with the team on Twitter @pennstateMTEN, Instagram @pennstatemtennis and Facebook at Penn State Men's Tennis.