Tennis: WVU Prepares for Final Three Matches
April 10, 2008 01:13 PM | General
By Steve Stone for MSNsportsNET.com
April 10, 2008
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - The West Virginia University tennis team ends its regular season with three consecutive BIG EAST matches on the road beginning on Friday, April 11-13.
WVU travels to Villanova on Friday for a 2 p.m. match before heading to Storrs, Connecticut, on Saturday, April 12, to face Uconn at 3 p.m. The Mountaineers will complete their trip with a Sunday match at Rutgers on April 13 at noon.
The Mountaineers (12-7, 2-1 BIG EAST) face their most important stretch of the season against three conference foes who they will battle with for seeding in next week’s BIG EAST Championships on April 17-20 in Tampa, Fla. The announcement of the tournament schedule will be made during the afternoon on Monday, April 14.
Senior Stacey Percival will look to become the 20th Mountaineer in school history to record 100 career wins as she boasts a 99-70 record heading into Friday’s match. The Aiken, S.C., native is 20-18 this season in singles and doubles competition.
Senior Monica Lyskawa leads WVU with 22 victories this season, and is coming off a 7-5, 6-2, victory over Maryland Baltimore County’s Alice Chen at No. 2 singles. She also teamed with fellow 20-match winner Stephanie LaFortune to defeat Mannix-Mungo of UMBC, 8-6, at No. 2 doubles.
LaFortune’s mid-season surge has carried her to an impressive 21-11 overall record this season. The sophomore was the only other Mountaineer to earn a victory in singles competition in WVU’s 4-3 loss to UMBC, defeating Joy Adewumi at No. 5 singles, 7-6 (10), 3-6, 1-0 (6).
Natalia Prinz shows a 21-15 overall record, including a team-leading 11 wins in singles. Prinz has enjoyed her best season as a senior and has provided consistency at the No. 3 spot.
Head Coach Marc Walters believes that his top players must perform well this weekend to give WVU a chance to come out of the weekend successful.
“Our team relies a lot on our top three players,” said Walters. “Last year we relied more on our bottom three, but in order for us to have a good weekend our top three players must be great.”
WVU looks to gain plenty of momentum from this weekend’s matches against conference competition. Last season’s squad, which was 10-9 through its first 19 matches, defeated Rutgers in its final match of the regular season but fell to the Scarlet Knights, 4-2, in the first round of the BIG EAST Tournament.
With six teams in the BIG EAST jockeying for tournament qualification and high seeding, Walters thinks it is imperative for his team to play its best tennis of the season when it matters the most.
“We have to go 2-1 on the weekend to get a decent seed in the BIG EAST Tournament,” said Walters. “It’s a huge weekend. It will be important for us to get everyone on the same page and play our best tennis.”
