DEKALB, Ill. – The Northern Illinois University women's tennis team opens its 2021 campaign with a doubleheader at Notre Dame Tuesday, January 19. It is the first of a challenging 32-event, 25-day schedule for the Huskies this season.
 
"This is an extremely tough schedule," said NIU head coach Eric Burns. "We put together these schedules every year that look crazy on paper to challenge our team mentally and physically. This approach is not about wins and losses, but about the development of our players which will help us and their games down the road.
 
"This is big picture, trust the process stuff. We want our players to improve at a rapid rate throughout the season and we know the way to do that is to play the best teams we can schedule and play lots of matches."
 
NIU wraps up its first week of action at Cincinnati on Jan. 23 before returning home for a stretch of five of the Huskies' next seven contests to be played in Chick Evans Field House. Following the home opener against Valparaiso on Jan. 29, NIU returns to South Bend to face Notre Dame on Jan. 30.
 
"We are playing Notre Dame (a top 30 team) three times in the first three weeks mostly because we just need matches and playing great competition is a way to improve quickly," he said.  It's probably a little crazy on my part to schedule it, but what an opportunity for our team to learn about what we can do against one of the better programs in the country."
 
Following a four-match road trip, which includes matches in Des Moines, Iowa and Milwaukee, Wis., NIU opens the Mid-American Conference schedule Mar. 12 when the Huskies play host to Bowling Green at Boylan Tennis Center in Rockford, Ill.
 
"The MAC is double round robin this year and this will give us extremely tough matches each time out," Burns said. "We hope this tough schedule early on can really help us grow as a team and get us ready for conference play."
 
The Huskies enter the 2021 season looking to build on a success 2020 campaign that came to a premature end. Before the season was cut short, NIU amassed a 12-6 record, more victories than the previous two seasons combined. It was also the most wins by a Huskie women's tennis team since the 2015 squad that won 11 matches.
 
"We're really excited to get the season started," he said. "It has been a long time since we have competed and we're pumped for the opportunity to finally play and see what we can do. The ladies have been working extremely hard this fall and over the winter break and it has been really tough not having a fall season to compete.
 
NIU returns seven players from last season, led by Paula Veyhle, who posted a 15-7 overall mark and an 11-3 dual record. Long-time leader, senior Maria Potsi, was right behind her with a 12-9 overall record and 9-5 dual mark.
 
"I'm sure they are pretty tired of competing against each other and Natalie [Sayer] and I are ready to see them compete for real against other teams," said Burns. "This is why we are here."
 
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