Big East Bound
April 18, 2005 03:25 PM | General
April 18, 2005
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The West Virginia University women’s tennis team is seeded fifth and will face No. 4-seeded St. John’s in the opening round of the Big East women’s tennis championships in Tampa, Fla., the conference announced today.
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| Sophomore Kelly Walsh posted a 9-9 record this spring playing No. 1 singles for the Mountaineers.
WVU Photographic Services/Brian Persinger |
The Mountaineers (15-6) will face the Red Storm (9-4) in a 9 am match on Thursday, April 21. The winner of that match will face No. 1-seeded Notre Dame (12-9) on Friday at 9 am.
The other first-round pairing will have No. 3-seeded Syracuse (12-7) taking on No. 6 seeded Seton Hall (13-6) at noon on Thursday. The winner of that match will face No. 2-seeded Boston College (11-8) on Friday at noon.
The championship match will take place on Saturday at noon.
All competition will take place at the University of South Florida Varsity Tennis Courts. USF will be a Big East member beginning with the 2005-06 academic year.
Because there is no round-robin play in the Big East, the six-team Big East tournament is picked by a selection committee comprised of conference coaches Dan Silverstein of West Virginia, Mac Gifford of Syracuse, and Ben Bucca of Rutgers.
Silverstein says ITA rankings play a big part in the seeding process. Notre Dame faced only one Big East member this spring (Boston College) but gets the top draw because the Irish are ranked No. 26 in the latest national rankings. Also considered in the seeding process were performance against conference teams and wins against common opponents.
“If we didn’t play a conference opponent and went out and beat some ranked teams we would still get into the tournament if we were ranked. It’s really not fair because Notre Dame only plays one conference team,” said Silverstein.
The Irish boast a pair of nationally ranked singles players in No. 37-rated Catrina Thompson and No. 90-ranked Brook Buck. The doubles tandem of Catrina and Christian Thompson are ranked No. 4 in the country, according to College Tennis Online.
Notre Dame or Miami has finished either first or second in every Big East championship since the league abandoned flighted singles play 11 years ago. With Miami now out of the league, Silverstein sees an opportunity for another school to step up and fill the void.
“We think this could be one of the best chances for West Virginia to win the thing,” he said.
In order to do that, the Mountaineers are going to have to string together their best tennis of the season. West Virginia failed to score a point in its three losses to nationally ranked William & Mary, VCU and Louisville earlier this season, though Silverstein says some of those points were hotly contested.
“In matches we had some set points at certain positions. I think a couple of our girls lost 6-4, 6-4 when they were leading 4-3 in the set,” said Silverstein. “We feel like we are a mentally tougher team now and we might be able to handle a Notre Dame a little better if we’re fortunate enough to get to them.”
West Virginia will feature a lineup consisting of five freshmen and one sophomore. Kelly Walsh, of Chalfont St. Giles, U.K., is the lone sophomore in the lineup at No. 1 singles. Walsh did not play in West Virginia’s last win against Villanova due to a mild ankle sprain but Silverstein expects her to be ready for the Big East tournament. Walsh also pairs with sophomore Catherine Koontz at No. 3 doubles.
Walsh owns a 9-9 singles record this year.
Natalia Prinz, a 5-foot-8-inch freshman from Tczew, Poland, will be in the lineup at No. 2 singles. Prinz, who finished the regular season with an 8-13 singles record, will team with freshman Stacey Percival at No. 2 doubles.
Monica Lyskawa had a strong freshman season playing No. 3 singles and enters the conference tournament with an 11-6 singles mark. Lyskawa will team with junior Raynie Theis at No. 1 doubles, where they posted a 5-2 record this spring.
Vienna, W.Va., native Kathryn Gerber will start at No. 4 singles. The former Parkersburg High standout won 10 of 14 matches during the spring season.
Local product Colleen Speaker of University High School in Morgantown had a 4-1 record this spring and will play the No. 5 singles position, followed by Aiken, S.C., freshman Stacey Percival at No. 6 singles. Percival had the best record on the team this spring with a 13-3 mark.
Silverstein admits his team is anxious to face St. John’s again in the tournament. The Mountaineers dropped an earlier decision to the Red Storm, 7-0.
“Losing the doubles point took everything out of us plus we had Kathryn Gerber out of the lineup,” Silverstein said. “With her back healthy we’re going to be in a little better shape.
“The loss at St. John’s made us tougher,” he added. “There was just so much adversity with that match. We just really picked it up after that and it was just meant to be for us to play St. John’s in the first round.”
The team will leave Tuesday for an extra day of preparation in Tampa to get accustomed to the heat. A vast majority of West Virginia’s matches this spring have been played indoors.
“We were very fortunate to have our last four matches in a row outside. We were able to practice outside today so we will be ready to play outside down there,” Silverstein said.
The winner of the Big East tournament automatically qualifies for the 64-team NCAA tournament. Last year the Big East sent both Notre Dame and Miami to nationals.
West Virginia is making its first Big East tournament appearance since the 2001 season and its seventh overall.
