SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – The UC Santa Barbara Women’s Tennis team released its 2024 spring schedule on Thursday, Nov. 16. Head Coach Simon Thibodeau will enter his 12th season at the helm of the program, guiding the Gauchos through a 24-match slate in the 2024 season.
“As the fall preparation is coming to an end, we are excited to get going with our championship season in January,” said Head Coach Simon Thibodeau. “We have a schedule packed with exciting matches for our players and fans, with many ranked opponents. Our home schedule is the strongest it has ever been, hosting elite teams like TCU, Texas Tech, Kansas, Pepperdine, Arizona, SMU, Penn State and San Diego. We also host some of our Big West biggest rivals in the Big West with Hawai’i and Long Beach State.”
The Gauchos will open up the spring season with two away matches, the first being against UCLA and then a week later traveling to the Bay Area to take on the University of San Francisco. Following the two away matches the Gauchos will host UC Davis and TCU at Arnhold Tennis Center on Feb. 2 and Feb. 4 respectively.
The Gauchos will travel to the University of Oregon for a single match before returning home for a three match home stand. The Gauchos will host Kansas, Texas Tech and Arizona over two days playing each institution over the two day round-robin event.
The Gauchos will hit the road one more time on a four-match trip spanning from Feb. 24 through March 3. Over the Cours of the trip UC Santa Barbara will play at Stanford, at Cal, at USC, and at Loyola Marymount.
For the remainder of March the Gauchos will be at home as they host Penn State, San Diego, SMU and Pepperdine to end the month. The Gauchos will host the Nittany Lions on March 9 with San Diego coming the next day, March 10. On March 13 Santa Barbara will host the Mustangs of SMU. Following that match the Gauchos will have a 17 day break as they prep for Pepperdine on March 30.
To open up April Santa Barbara will host two Big West foes in Hawai’i and Long Beach State. on April 5 and 6 respectively. Big West play will continue for the Gauchos as they travel to UC San Diego, UC Irvine and Cal State Fullerton the following weekend. UC Santa Barbara will compete against all three schools over three consecutive days. They will compete against the Tritons on April 12, the Anteaters on April 13 and the Titans on April 14.
The Gauchos wrap up their home matches with UC Riverside and CSUN with both matches being played on April 20. The next day Santa Barbara will travel to Cal Poly for the Blue-Green match and the conclusion of the regular season.
The Big West Championships will once again return to San Diego, Calif. and the Barnes Tennis Center. The Championships will start on April 25 and conclude with the Championship match on April 27.
“The great news is we won’t be traveling much out of state nor often, so the team should be able to stay fresh and recover well between the dual matches,” explained Thibodeau.
For more information on the schedule, visit ucsbgauchos.com.