SPORTS SHORTS
MIT Women’s Tennis team begins season Sept. 10 at Smith
The MIT Women’s Tennis team will begin its 2011-12 season on Sept. 10 when it travels to Smith College for a match that will also begin NEWMAC Conference play for the Engineers, who finished the 2010-11 season ranked No. 22 in Division III. It will begin a fall season for MIT that includes a full slate of NEWMAC matches as well as the Conference Championships in October.
Including the Smith College match, MIT opens the season with four of its first five contests coming against conference opponents. After the opener, MIT debuts at home against conference foe Clark University on September 17. The Engineers continue at home on September 22 when they host Tufts University, one of three teams on the 2011-12 schedule that were NCAA Tournament participants last season.
MIT’s fall season also includes play at the ITA New England Regional Championships that will be hosted by Bates College from Sept. 30 to Oct. 2. The Engineers return to NEWMAC play with three straight matches, including two at home against Wellesley College and Springfield College, before taking part in the New England Women’s Intercollegiate Tennis Tournament at Amherst College. MIT will close out the fall portion of its schedule with the NEWMAC Championships that start October 19.
Spring begins for the Engineers in March with home matches against New York University and Colby College. MIT will play three more matches at home in April, hosting Simmons College, Brandies University, and Trinity College. The match against Trinity on April 28 will close out the regular season for the Engineers.
—Phil Hess, DAPER staff
Water polo starts next season Sept. 3 under new coach Mark Lawrence
The MIT water polo program will begin a new era under new head coach Mark Lawrence when it opens play with the annual MIT Invitational on Saturday, Sept. 3. The Engineers will welcome local foes Harvard and Brown, as well as Cal Baptist, to the Zesiger pool for the one-day event.
The Engineers will travel to the Princeton Invitational the following weekend before heading out to California to take on a number of teams from the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC), including the University of Redlands and the California Institute of Technology. The matchup with Caltech will be just the third all-time between the two schools and the first since 2004.
Tech will begin Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Northern Division play on Saturday, Sept. 24 with a day-night doubleheader. The Engineers will play at Fordham University at 1 p.m. before traveling to Iona College for an 8 p.m. contest.
MIT will also host the CWPA Northern Division Championship on the weekend of Nov. 5 and 6. The top four teams from that tournament will advance to the Eastern Championship at Harvard University two weeks later.
—Greg McKeever, DAPER staff
2011 MIT cross country schedule announced
The MIT cross country program announced its 2011 schedule August 1. The slate features nine events including conference, regional, and national championship competitions.
Tech will open up with the annual Engineer’s Cup meet against RPI and WPI at the Franklin Park cross country course. The MIT women will be seeking their sixth straight team victory in the event, while the men have won 18 of the last 19 competitions.
The Cardinal and Gray will travel to Bowdoin College for an Invitational meet on Saturday, Oct. 1 to get a look at the course that will host the New England Division III Championship later in the year. The men’s team captured its first ever regional title last year, while the women placed fourth.
Franklin Park will serve as the host to a pair of championship events during the season, as Tech will compete in the All-New England Championship there on Saturday, Oct. 8 and return for the New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Championship on Sunday, Oct. 30. MIT has swept the men’s and women’s conference championships in each of the past four years.
The NCAA Division III Championship will be hosted by the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh on Saturday, Nov. 19. Both teams will look to return to the national meet after third- and 12th-place finishes by the women and men, respectively, in 2010.
—Greg McKeever, DAPER staff
Women’s volleyball releases 2011 schedule, starts with two-day tournament
The MIT Women’s Volleyball team will begin its 2011 campaign with its first appearance coming during the two-day Regis College Tournament on Sept. 2. The tournament is one of six the Engineers will be playing in throughout the season in addition to a nine-match NEWMAC schedule.
MIT continues tournament play the weekend of Sept. 9 at Vassar College before kicking off conference action at Mount Holyoke College on Sept. 13. The Cardinal and Gray’s first contest in Rockwell Cage is a tri-match with NEWMAC foe Clark University and Simmons College, marking MIT’s first meeting with the Boston-based squad.
Pivotal league matches against Wellesley College (Sept. 20) and NCAA Tournament qualifier Springfield College (Sept. 27) sandwich the MIT Invitational, which features several of the top teams in New England, along with newcomers Frostburg State University and Newbury College.
In addition to competing at the Johnson & Wales University (Sept. 30 to Oct. 1), MIT Quad (Oct. 14–15), and Hall of Fame Tournaments (Oct. 21–22), the Engineers will square off in five NEWMAC matches, with the finale occurring on Oct. 29 at conference champion U.S. Coast Guard Academy.
—Mindy Brauer, DAPER staff