STATESBORO - The Sun Belt Conference champion Georgia Southern women's tennis team has announced its Fall and Spring schedule for the upcoming 2021-22 season.
Head Coach Sean McCaffrey will take the Eagles to seven events during the Fall, with the dual match Spring season opening up with a return trip to No. 10 Georgia Tech on January 22, the site of Georgia Southern's first NCAA Tournament experience from last season.
"I believe our Fall 2021 and Spring 2022 schedule is our most ambitious yet," Georgia Southern Head Women's Tennis Coach Sean McCaffrey said. "Our Fall season has a good mix of both ITF and college tournaments that will certainly test our entire team. Our goal is to use the Fall as a springboard into what we hope will be a strong Spring season."
The Fall begins with pre-qualifiers for the Florence and Hilton Head ITF 25k tournaments on September 11 and 22, respectively, while the Eagles will also participate in the Stetson Fall Invite on September 24-26. Georgia Southern will host a Fall Shootout on October 8-10 at the Wallis Tennis Center, featuring 11 other teams from around the Southeast.
Georgia Southern will participate in the ITA Regionals in Orlando, Fla., on October 14-17 and wrap up the Fall with pre-qualifying action at the Daytona ITF 25k on October 29-31.
"We start the Spring season off with three of our first four matches against Power 5 schools," Coach McCaffrey said. "Two of those are national championship-caliber teams in Georgia Tech and UCF. I believe that, with the way we have built our schedule, it will challenge us early, which leads to gaining confidence through the middle of the non-conference season and into the all-important Sun Belt campaign."
After the Eagles open up at Georgia Tech, Georgia Southern visits No. 73 Clemson on January 29, then hosts its first home match on February 5, welcoming in Jacksonville State. The trip to No. 11 UCF will take place on February 6, then the Eagles will host Charleston Southern and South Carolina State on February 12 and 13.
The next weekend, the Eagles will be in Jacksonville, facing No. 38 FIU on February 19 and No. 49 North Florida on February 20. A road date at in-state rival Mercer on February 24 is followed by a home date with Presbyterian on February 27.
The first Sun Belt weekend of play will be March 12 and 13, as the Eagles welcome in Appalachian State and Coastal Carolina, respectively. The Sun Belt is back to a full slate of action, meaning Georgia Southern will play all 10 other Sun Belt squads during the regular season.
A mid-week non-conference matchup vs. Rhode Island on March 16 leads into the first Sun Belt road trip of the season as Georgia Southern travels to South Alabama on March 19 and Troy on March 20. The Eagles welcome in UL Monroe and Louisiana on March 26 and 27 at Wallis, then a home non-conference date with Mercer on the 30th wraps up March.
The Eagles travel to UT Arlington and Texas State for Sun Belt road action on April 2 and 3. The final non-conference match of the Spring has the Eagles hosting Florida A&M on April 8. Georgia Southern then ends the regular season with two road Sun Belt matches, visiting Arkansas State on April 10 and Georgia State on April 15.
Georgia Southern will then defend its Sun Belt Conference Tournament title on April 21-24 in Peachtree City, Ga.
"The team, Lena and I are eager to get out and work hard for another conference championship," McCaffrey said. "It will not come easy, and we all know that we now have a target on our backs. But these ladies thrive in that kind of environment. They are resilient, relentless and the team's culture is among the very best I've been fortunate to be a part of. We can't wait to make all of Eagle Nation proud!"
