TUCSON, Ariz – The Wildcats will face 14 ranked opponents from a year ago, as well as 10 NCAA Tournament teams from last season, as 10th year head coach Tad Berkowitz announced Arizona's 2016 spring schedule on Wednesday.
The Cats come into the new campaign full of promise and experience, as the team consists of eight upperclassmen, including four seniors, Matt Dunn, Trevor James, Jason Jaruvang, and Naoki Takeda to go along with four newcomers, junior Oliver Plaskett, junior Harry Busby, sophomore Trent Botha, and freshman Will Adkisson. The Wildcats are confident that their mix of experience and new talent will help propel them to the top of the Pac-12 conference.
“We take a lot of pride in our schedule year in and year out,” said Berkowitz. “We always try to make our non-conference schedule as tough as possible, and this year is the same. I'm excited about the upcoming season and the quality teams that we will compete against this spring.”
Arizona will begin its spring slate with dual matches set to take place from Jan. 15-18, at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas, where they will compete against No. 40 New Mexico, No. 19 Texas Tech, and the University of Pacific.
The Wildcats will then return home for season-long seven-match homestand lasting from Jan. 23 until February 21, which will feature two contests against ranked opponents from last year in No. 53 Denver, and No. 54 UC Santa Barbra.
The Cats then hit the road once again for a quick matchup at No. 41 Tulane, before returning home to take on Loyola Marymount and No. 65 Fresno State. Arizona will then make the trek to Southern California and go up against No. 22 San Diego, and No. 38 San Diego State.
Arizona opens up Pac-12 play on Friday, Mar. 25 as they take on conference foe, No. 20 Stanford. Conference plays poses to be tough, as six of the seven opponents were ranked within the top 65 last year, including top 10, USC. The Cats close conference play and their regular season with a matchup in Tucson against Utah on Saturday, Apr. 16.
Pac-12 tournament play will be held from Apr. 20-24, and the NCAA tournament will take place from May 8-23.
All rankings used in this release are based upon last year's final ITA rankings.
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