Winthrop Women’s Tennis Earns No. 1 Seed In Big South Tournament

CHARLOTTE, NC–Winthrop has clinched the No. 1 seed in next week’s Big South Conference Women’s Tennis Championship by virtue of a three-way tiebreaker with Charleston Southern and Liberty, it was announced Saturday night following the conclusion of the conference regular season.

Coach Cid Carvalho‘s Eagles will be looking to capture the program’s 19th Big South title in the past 24 years when they begin play at the Wake Forest Tennis Center in Winston-Salem, NC at 9 a.m. on Friday against the winner between No. 8 Longwood and No. 9 Radford. The semifinals are set for Saturday and the championship match will be held on Sunday at 12 noon.

The Eagles shared the 2017 regular-season championship with Charleston Southern and Liberty as all three teams finished 7-1 in conference action. Winthrop was awarded the top seed by virtue of the third step of the league’s tiebreaker. The first two steps of the tiebreaker (conference won-loss record and head-to-head competition) did not create an advantage as all three teams went 1-1 against each other.  The third step — aggregate match record against teams tied for first-place — broke the tie as Winthrop was an aggregate 8-6 vs. CSU and LU, compared to 7-7 for Charleston Southern (No. 2 seed) and 6-8 for Liberty (No. 3 seed).

Gardner-Webb takes the No. 4 seed with its 5-3 Big South record, followed by UNC Asheville at No. 5 (4-4).  Campbell earned the No. 6 seed after finishing 3-5 in the league this year, while Presbyterian College received the No. 7 seed with its 2-6 Big South record.  Longwood captured the No. 8 seed at 1-7, and Radford rounded out the seedings at No. 9 after going winless in league action.

The Big South’s Tournament champion receives an automatic bid to the NCAA Women’s Tennis Championship.  The Championship schedule is as follows:

Thursday, April 20 – First Round
Match 1:  No. 8 Longwood vs. No. 9 Radford, 9:00 a.m.

Friday, April 21 – Quarterfinals
Match 2:  No. 1 Winthrop vs. No. 8/9 winner, 9:00 a.m.
Match 3:  No. 2 Charleston Southern vs. No. 7 Presbyterian College, 9:00 a.m.
Match 4:  No. 4 Gardner-Webb vs. No. 5 UNC Asheville, 12:00 p.m,
Match 5:  No. 3 Liberty vs. No. 6 Campbell, 12:00 p.m.
Saturday, April 22 – Semifinals
Match 6:  Match 2 winner vs. Match 4 winner, 9:00 a.m.
Match 7:  Match 3 winner vs. Match 5 winner, 9:00 a.m.
Sunday, April 23 – Championship
Match 8:  Match 6 winner vs. Match 7 winner, 12:00 p.m.