Women's Tennis Going For Its Fourth Straight A-10 Title
04/18/2007 | Women's Tennis
April 18, 2007
UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND, Va. - The Richmond women's tennis team, winners of six of its last seven matches, will be going for its fourth-straight Atlantic 10 Championship this weekend, April 20-22, at the Club 4 Life in Monroeville, Pa.
The Spiders have claimed the A-10 Title in four of the past five years and will head into this year's tournament with a 6-7 mark.
Led by four-time coach of the year Mark Wesselink, Richmond seeks to become the first program to win four consecutive A-10 titles since Virginia Tech won five straight crowns from 1996-00.
"By virtue of its upset over us this year, Temple has the #1 seed," said Wesselink. "We would like it back."
The second-seeded Spiders are led by sophomore Pamela Duran, a two-time Player of the Week selection who garnered Most Outstanding Rookie honors a year ago.
Duran and Ashlee Vosters, despite a loss at first doubles last weekend to the #1 doubles duo in the country, enter the Championship on an 11-match win streak at second doubles.
Vosters will also enter Championship action winning six of her last seven singles matches, while Duran and senior Jessica Hubbard will go into the weekend winning five of their last six singles matches.
Last year, after sweeping through the A-10 tournament without allowing a point, the Spiders captured their third-straight A-10 title to earn the league's automatic berth to the NCAA Championships and will look for a repeat performance this year.
"Most of our injuries have healed and everyone is playing well," said Wesselink. "We are looking forward to the battle."
The Spiders, seeded second in the year's Championship, will enjoy a bye in the first round and will begin tournament action with the winner of the match between 7th seeded Saint Louis and 10th seeded Dayton on Friday at 3:30 p.m.
On Saturday, April 21, play begins at 8:00 a.m. with the final match slated for 3:30 p.m. The fifth-and ninth-place matches of the A-10 Women's Tennis Championship will commence on Sunday, April 22 at 8:00 a.m. The third place and championship matches close out the event at 10:30 a.m.
Follow the Spiders through the Championships at RichmondSpiders.com, and for complete results of the A-10 Women's Tennis Championship, log onto the conference website at Atlantic 10.org.