After a long regular season, the Massachusetts tennis team begins its play in the 2010 Atlantic 10 tournament in St. Louis, Mo. as the sixth seed.
The Minutewomen (12-7) are looking to win their first A-10 Championship since 2001 when they defeated George Washington, 4-2. Last year, the team finished sixth overall, going 1-2 in the three matches it played.
UMass has its first winning record since 2006-07, when it compiled an 11-7 mark overall. Its .632 winning percentage is the highest UMass has earned since 2004-05.
The Minutewomen will open A-10 tournament play against 11th-seeded Saint Joesph’s. This will be the first matchup between these two teams this season. In fact, the Minutewomen have only played one A-10 team this year, defeating Rhode Island, 7-0, on Oct. 14.
The Hawks (6-18) enter the tournament after losses to New Jersey Institute of Technology and URI, both of which UMass defeated earlier in the season. However, the Hawks are coming off a 7-0 victory over Saint Peter’s in their last match. Senior Jhennifer Kedzierski led the way for the Hawks, earning a 6-2, 6-1 victory at No. 1 singles, and teaming with sophomore Laura Matz for an 8-1 win at No. 1 doubles.
The match-up between freshman No. 1 singles star Julia Comas and Kedzierski highlights the opening round match. Kedzierski is the co-captain of SJU, and is the all-time single season leader in individual wins for the university with 16.
Following sophomore Magdalena Ploch’s removal from the team, Comas has put together a 5-2 overall record. She leads the team with 15 singles victories on the year and has earned A-10 Rookie of the Week honors twice over the course of the season.
The tournament will also be the last time that senior Maude Lecluyse plays for the Minutewomen. Lecluyse is second all-time in career matches for UMass (109) and fourth all-time in doubles victories (66).
Xavier is the tournament’s favorite to win as the No. 1 seed. Senior Jill Ducro, who has 75 career singles wins to her name, leads the Musketeers. They also feature A-10 Rookie of the Week Katie Pleiman, who has a 14-4 record this year at No. 1 singles.
Other notable teams include second-seeded Richmond, and third-seeded Temple.
Ben Lambert can be reached at [email protected]
