Thursday, December 15, 2011

Valparaiso University men’s tennis coach Jim Daugherty has announced the Crusaders’ 21-match regular season spring schedule, which includes seven home contests, five of which are scheduled to be played at the Valpo Tennis Complex.

The Crusaders will open the season with 10 straight matches away from home, beginning Jan. 28 when the Brown and Gold travels to Ball State.  Valpo will head to Dayton one week later before battling Grace in a neutral site contest in South Bend on Feb. 11.  A trip to DeKalb, Ill. is in store for Valpo the following week, as the Crusaders face both Northern Illinois and IUPUI.

Valpo heads to Western Michigan to close out the month of February before traveling to Kissimmee, Fla. for the annual spring break trip.  Valpo will face Siena, New Jersey Tech, Indianapolis, and Colgate within a five day span in the middle of March.

Butler comes to town on March 24 for the Horizon League opener which is slated to be played indoors at the Northwest Athletic Club, the same site as Valpo’s match the following day against Wright State.

The final regular season road trip of the season takes place March 30 through April 6 with Valpo heading to Bradley, Green Bay, IPFW, and Detroit.

The Crusaders will wrap up the regular season with five straight home matches at the Valpo Tennis Complex.  Chicago State, Youngstown State, Cleveland State, and Aquinas all visit campus prior to the season finale against UIC on April 21.

This year’s Horizon League Championship is slated for April 26-28 in Indianapolis, Ind., with the top six teams from the regular season battling for the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.