August 7, 2002

BLACKSBURG, Va. - A school record 18 home matches including dates against Miami, Maryland, Ohio State and several other matches against some of the top teams in the nation highlight the 2002-03 Virginia Tech women's tennis schedule. The Hokies return five of the top six players from last year's 17-11 squad which finished third in the BIG EAST Championships.

The fall schedule will have Tech opening the season at the William & Mary Invitational in September followed by the Virginia Tech Fall Invitational the following weekend. The Hokies will round out the autumn schedule at the ITA Eastern Regionals in Cambridge, Mass.

Tech will face another tough spring schedule featuring 12 teams who were ranked last season including away matches against Notre Dame, Clemson, South Alabama, Virginia, William & Mary and Virginia Commonwealth. Home contests versus ranked teams include Middle Tennessee State, Maryland, Ohio State, Oregon, Miami and Florida Atlantic. The BIG EAST Conference does not have a regular season schedule in tennis and six teams will be selected to participate in the BIG EAST Championships by a committee with emphasis on national ranking (Top 75) followed by head-to-head results versus BIG EAST opponents, and record against common opponents.

"We have 18 home matches which is the most in the program's history," said Virgina Tech head coach Lisa Hart. "The last two years we have only lost four home matches so we hope to use the home court advantage to defeat some of ranked opponents this year."

"We have the talent to compete with some of the best teams in the nation and I believe the experience gained by our young players last year will help us reach our goals. We are looking forward to the start of the season."