KALAMAZOO -- Western Michigan women's tennis head coach Betsy Kuhle has announced the schedule for the 2009-10 season, highlighted by two matches against teams that made the 2009 NCAA Tournament and six teams that finished the season nationally ranked.
Play begins in the fall at Marquette on the weekend of Sept. 18 and concludes back in Kalamazoo with the WMU Super Challenge on the weekend of Nov. 6.
The Broncos, winners of 21 matches last season, open dual match play with a doubleheader in Bloomington, Ind., against No. 48 Indiana and Evansville on Jan. 17. WMU will also play at No. 18 Michigan on Jan. 24, No. 50 Yale on March 7 and No. 62 Brown on March 5, while hosting No. 47 DePaul on Feb. 14.
Besides Michigan and Indiana, the Broncos will also face Purdue, Michigan State and Wisconsin of the Big Ten. The Broncos knocked off the Boilermakers and Spartans last season.
"Our goal is to always play a tough non-conference schedule to prepare us for the MAC," Kuhle said. "I think this schedule will help us achieve that, plus it has a nice mix of familiar regional foes and some new challenges from nationally-ranked East Coast teams in Yale and Brown and southern teams in Sam Houston State and Rice."
Besides their trip to Ivy League country in early March, the Broncos will head to the Lone Star State to face Sam Houston State and Rice on March 20-21 before beginning Mid-American Conference play against defending champion No. 70 Miami on March 26 in Oxford.
Western Michigan will play 11 consecutive matches on the road between Feb. 20 and April 10 before concluding the season with three conference matches against Northern Illinois, Buffalo and Akron on April 17, 23 and 24.
The Broncos will also host the MAC Tournament in Kalamazoo for the first time since 2000, when they won their second consecutive MAC Tournament crown.
Western Michigan returns five letterwinners, including Second Team All-MAC honoree Emily Dudzik, from last season's team and adds 2009 Michigan Miss Tennis Maggie Remynse and 2009 Michigan Miss Tennis finalist Jill Pastunink.
