With the Atlantic 10 tournament No. 1 overall seed in hand, the red-hot Massachusetts women’s tennis team heads to Charlottesville, V.A., this week in search of its second conference championship in school history.

The top seeded Minutewomen enter tournament-play riding a six-game winning streak and hold a 14-7 overall record.

Against its Atlantic 10 foes, UMass has posted an impressive 5-1 regular season mark, including five conference wins in a row.

Under the guidance of UMass coach Judy Dixon, the Minutewomen have posted Atlantic 10 wins against Temple, Saint Joseph’s, Duquesne, Rhode Island and Charlotte. The team’s only conference loss came on October 9 of last year, a 5-2 loss at Fordham.

This year, UMass has shifted around its lineup in an attempt to find the perfect combination.

Dixon continually emphasizes the importance of doubles play for her team and the strength the squad has at the lower single spots 4-6.

For most of the season Yuliana Motyl and Chantal Swiszcz have anchored the No. 1 doubles position for the Minutewomen; they’ve posted a 10-6 overall record.

Meanwhile, the No. 2 doubles has seen a plethora of different teams, with most starts coming from Sonia Bokhari and Hazuki Onaga, who have posted a 3-6 record. In its last win, a 6-1 win over Quinnipiac, UMass went with the team of Bokhari and Chanel Glasper who have a 3-0 record at No. 2 doubles.

Glasper however has played most of her doubles with Jessica Podlofsky at No. 3 doubles. The two have posted a 6-6 record together.

In singles play, two Minutewomen have held the top spot in Bokhari and Motyl going 3-4 and 5-9, respectively, in No. 1 singles.

Bokahari, however, has fared much better at No. 2 singles going an impressive 10-3 on the season. Motyl also has a 3-3 record playing No. 2 singles.

The No. 3 singles play has been split between Julia Comas and Podlofsky, with Comas seeing the majority of playing time with a 7-5 record. Podlofsky’s record, on the other hand, is 5-4.

Whoever isn’t playing No. 3 singles gets the No. 4 spot and each have been more then impressive in that position. Comas has a 6-1 record, while Podlofsky has an 8-4 record.

The No. 5 singles also has seen significant playing time from two players, Glasper and Onaga. Glasper has posted a 9-5 record and Onaga comes in at 4-1.

Glasper, however, has been unbeatable when she plays No. 6 singles with a perfect 7-0 record. Swiszcz also has seen playing time at No. 6 singles with a 4-5 record.

In women’s collegiate tennis, in order for a team to pick up the win, the team must win four points out of the match’s seven points. Each team receives a point for a singles win and whichever team wins a majority of the doubles matches receives a point as well.

More times then not, UMass has found a way to get at least four points, and along with it, a win with the current lineup.

A-10 tournament preview

This year’s A-10 tournament host is the defending champion, Richmond, which has won eight of the last 10 Atlantic 10 championships.

The Minutewomen and Charlotte are the top seeds in the tournament and will get Thursday off,

The rest of the pack is led by the aforementioned No. 3-seeded Spiders. Richmond begins its quest for a ninth championship against No. 14 seed La Salle at 12 p.m.

The winner of that matchup will face the winner of No. 6 George Washington and No. 11 Saint Joseph’s on Friday at 1 p.m. for a shot at the semifinals.

The winner of the No. 7 Fordham and No. 10 Saint Louis matchup, scheduled for 3 p.m. on Thursday, will face off against the No. 2 ranked 49ers at 1 p.m. on Friday in the quarterfinals.

The other 12 p.m. game has the potential to be a competitive matchup between No. 8 Rhode Island and No. 9 Duquesne on Thursday. The winner of this match will take on No. 1 UMass, Friday at 10 a.m.

On Thursday morning, No. 4 Temple will play No. 13 Dayton, while No. 5 Xavier faces No. 12 St. Bonaventure. The winner of those games will play on Friday at 10 a.m. for a shot at the semifinals.

The championship, and with it, the culmination of the tournament, is scheduled for Sunday at 10 a.m.

The champion will receive the conference’s automatic bid into the NCAA tournament.

Cameron McDonough can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter @MDC_McDonough.