Rincon Releases 2013 Spring MTennis Schedule

CORAL GABLES, Fla. – University of Miami head men’s tennis coach Mario Rincon has officially released the fall 2013 tennis schedule for the Hurricanes. 
This spring Miami will face 18 teams who were ranked in the top 75 of the final 2012 Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) poll. Five of those teams were ranked in the top 25, including No. 2 Virginia, No. 8 Duke, No. 12 Florida, No. 16 North Carolina and No. 23 Texas Tech. 
“We are looking forward to playing one of the toughest schedules we’ve had in recent years,” said Coach Mario Rincon. “We have a deep team hungry to compete in the spring, and we are looking forward to facing some of the best teams in the country on a weekly basis.”
In addition to playing 23 regular season dual matches, the Hurricanes will host the USTA Junior National team in an exhibition match on Jan. 16 prior to the start of the regular season. The USTA Junior National team is comprised of the top junior players from around the United States. 
“Playing the USTA national team will be a great way to start our season, and before we play UF and Bethune Cookman on the road,” added Rincon. 
Miami will host five ACC matches, including last season’s champion, No. 2 Virginia (April 21) as well as No. 64 Clemson (March 15), No. 62 Georgia Tech (March 17), Boston College (April 7) and No. 45 Virginia Tech (April 19). 
The Hurricanes will open singles match play against Florida and Bethune-Cookman on Jan. 19, in Gainesville, Fla. Florida is coming off a season that ended with a third round exit from the NCAA tournament and the No. 12 ranking.
Following their matches in Gainesville the Canes will travel to Columbus, Ohio, Jan. 26-27, for the ITA Kick-off Weekend.  Competing in this year’s Kick-off Weekend will be last year’s No. 4 and NCAA tournament quarterfinalist Ohio State, Louisiana-Lafayette, and East Tennessee State.
The month of February will have the Canes playing three straight home matches before traveling north to Tampa, Fla., on Sun., Feb. 10 to play USF. Traveling to the Coral Gables campus will be UCF, Rice and Louisiana-Lafayette. In their last match of the month, the Hurricanes will welcome North Florida on Feb. 24 to the Neil Schiff Tennis Center. 
The 2013 season will continue with 17 dual matches, including six-straight home matches, 10 ACC matchups and 14 top 75 teams from last season.  
For the second straight season, Virginia will be one of the toughest matches on the schedule. Virginia finished the year as No. 2 in the country and lost in the national championship to USC for the second year in a row. This season the Canes will be traveling to Lubbock, Texas, and Durham, N.C., to face off against last season’s No. 23 Texas Tech and No. 8 Duke respectively. 
UM will also compete at No. 61 New Mexico, No. 32 Florida State, No. 69 Wake Forest, No. 39 NC State and No. 16 North Carolina. Traveling to Coral Gables to compete against the Hurricanes will be Florida Gulf Coast, Georgetown, No. 64 Clemson, No. 62 Georgia Tech, No. 36 Minnesota, No. 60 Georgia State, Boston College and No. 45 Virginia Tech.
Postseason will begin April 25 with the first round of the ACC Championships in Cary, N.C., and run through April 28. The season will come to a conclusion with the NCAA Championships in Urbana, Ill., May 10-27. 
For more information on the University of Miami men’s tennis team, log on to HurricaneSports.com. To follow the UM men’stTennis team via twitter, visit Twitter.com/CanesMensTennis.
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