 Billikens Awarded Seventh Seed for A-10 Championship
April 17, 2007 ST. LOUIS - Saint Louis, which put together a 1-2 ledger against conference teams this season, will open the Atlantic 10 Women's Tennis Championship against the lone league member that it defeated during the regular season. The seventh-seeded Billikens (12-13) will take on No. 10 Dayton (6-17) on Fri., April 20 at 7 a.m. (CT) at Club 4 Life in Monroeville, Pa. SLU defeated the Flyers 4-0 in the first round of last year's tournament, and has won the last four matches in the series. "I think we got a fair seed," head coach Jonathan Zych said. "We're just excited to play Dayton and ready to go for it. Our players are really motivated to play, especially our seniors. (If we win) playing two times in one day is tough but there's not anything you can do about. We just want to get on the courts and give it all we've got." In this season's first meeting on Feb. 17 at Sunset Tennis Center, SLU defeated the Flyers 6-1. It earned the doubles point with easy victories at the first two positions despite UD winning at No. 3 doubles. The Bills went on to take five of six singles matches while Dayton gained its only point when Allysa Detroy defeated Ana Renda at No. 2 singles 2-6, 6-4 (10-8). Dayton won just one of its four matches against A-10 opponents this season. That win was a 6-1 decision at 12th-seeded St. Bonaventure last weekend. The Flyers' other losses to league teams were against Duquesne and Xavier while the Billikens two losses were to the same two teams. UD will be looking to improve upon last season's 10th place finish. A SLU victory against the Flyers would set up a match with second-seeded Richmond at 2:30 p.m. on Friday. An opening-round loss would pit the Bills against Charlotte, La Salle, Duquesne or Fordham in the consolation bracket at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday.
Last year, Saint Louis made a statement in its first A-10 Championship. The Billikens downed Dayton 4-0 then fell to eventual second-place finisher Charlotte 4-1. Then SLU beat George Washington 4-2 to earn a spot in the fifth-place match against Temple. That match was ruled a no decision leading to a tie for fifth place with the Owls.
A-10 Championships Seeds 1. Temple 2. Richmond 3. Charlotte 4. Massachusetts 5. Xavier 6. Duquesne 7. Saint Louis 8. George Washington 9. Rhode Island 10. Dayton 11. Fordham 12. St. Bonaventure 13. Saint Joseph's 14. La Salle |
|
