The Lady Vols tennis team is preparing to enter its 25th season and co-head

coaches Mike Patrick and Sonia Hahn-Patrick are pleased to announce the

2000-2001 schedule.

“We play one of the toughest schedules every year,” Patrick said. “We have

never shied away from tough competition. We want to progress and in order

to do so, we have to continue to play the best.”

Tennessee has prepared a 20-match schedule that includes nine tournaments

and should provide great matchups with SEC and non-conference

opponents.

The new schedule includes matches with 14 teams that made last year’s NCAA

Tournament, as well as 12 teams that finished ranked in the International

Tennis Association’s top 50.

The Lady Vols begin the fall season at the Furman Fall Classic in Furman,

S.C. The tournament is Sept. 22-24.

“We’ve scheduled a couple of extra tournaments,” Patrick said. “It will be

a chance for a lot of young individuals ready to play in the spring.”

After traveling to Las Vegas for the UNLV Tournament, Tennessee returns

home to host the second annual St. Mary’s Classic on Oct. 6-9.

“We play the Furman Classic every year but then we go out west to UNLV,”

Patrick said. “Then we host the St. Mary’s Classic in Knoxville. We’ve

really turned it into a first-class tournament.”

The Lady Vols continue through October with the SEC Coaches tournament in

Stone Mountain, Ga., the All-American in Pacific Palisades, Calif., and the

Hurricane Fall Classic in Miami, Fla. Tennessee finishes out the fall

season at the ITA Regional in Winston Salem, N.C., on Nov. 3-6.

The Lady Vols will take a break before the spring season opens on Feb. 3 at

Purdue.

The Southeastern Conference always provides top competition. And this year

is no different. The Lady Vols will look to spook Georgia on Friday, April

13. The Lady Bulldogs are the defending national champions.

Other heated conference matchups include a showdown at Florida, No. 3 last

year, on March 23. Tennessee also has matchups with conference foes

Mississippi, South Carolina, LSU, Kentucky, Arkansas and Mississippi State,

all of which finished in the top 50 last season.

The Lady Vols will also have a tough non-conference schedule. Tennessee

will look for revenge when they host Wake Forest on March 2. Wake Forest

was the team that put an end to the Lady Vol run in the 2000 NCAA

Tournament.

Tennessee also has non-conference matchups with Notre Dame (March 25),

North Carolina (March 21) and Indiana (Feb. 25). The Irish, Tarheels and

Hoosiers all finished the 2000 season ranked in the top 50.

Opponents which also made the tournament last season include Illinois on

Feb. 4, Middle Tennessee State on Feb. 23, Ohio State on March 4, and

Vanderbilt on March 31.

The 2001 SEC Championships will be held April 19-22 in Starkville, Miss.

The NCAA Regionals will be May 12-13 while the NCAA Finals will be from May

17-25.