HAVERFORD, Pa. – The Haverford College women's tennis team has announced its 2016 spring schedule. In addition to the team's annual trip to Orlando, Florida during the week of Spring Break, the Fords will host six matches on their home courts during the spring.
The dual meet schedule begins with the aforementioned trip to Orlando with travel and return dates set for March 5 and March 12. The team went a perfect 7-0 during its trip down south last season. The Fords currently have matches scheduled with Alvernia, Columbia College, Coe, Methodist, Northwestern College, and Colorado College with the opportunity to add competitions into the schedule.
The Fords will host Wilkes (Mar. 19) for the fifth time in seven seasons when they return north. These two teams have not met since the 2013 season. Haverford is just 1-3 all-time vs. Wilkes, but won the most recent meeting during the 2013 campaign with a thrilling 5-4 victory that included a singles victory from then-freshman Robyn Himelstein.
Centennial Conference play opens up in March when the team hosts defending Centennial Conference Champion Johns Hopkins on March 26. Bryn Mawr will also come to Haverford on March 30 for a home conference matchup. In April, the Fords will battle Muhlenberg (Apr. 13), Dickinson (Apr. 16), and Gettysburg (Apr. 30) on their home courts. Haverford's conference road schedule will feature trips to McDaniel (Apr. 2), Ursinus (Apr. 5), Franklin & Marshall (Apr. 9), Washington College (Apr. 20), and Swarthmore (Apr. 27).
The Centennial Conference tournament will get underway with the first round matchup on May 4 that will feature the tournament's Nos. 4 and 5 seeds. The conference semifinals and finals will take place on May 7-8. Haverford defeated Ursinus in the Centennial Conference Tournament first round match before falling to Johns Hopkins last spring. Washington College and Franklin & Marshall also qualified for the conference tournament during the 2015 season.
Head coach Ann Koger is in her 34th season leading the program. She has guided the team to the conference playoffs in each of the past seven seasons. The Fords will have to deal with the graduation loss of the program's first Centennial Conference Player of the Year in Caitlin Gallagher, who won that award in 2013. Haverford does return a pair of All-Centennial Conference performers from a season ago in Himelstein (second-team doubles) and Greta Koch (honorable mention singles).