ROCK HILL, S.C. — Carson-Newman earned the No. 4 seed and will face fifth-seeded Brevard in the first round of the 2010 Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Women's Tennis Tournament, league officials announced Thursday.
The Lady Eagles and Brevard tied for fourth place in the final league standings with 5-3 conference records and will meet each other on April 22 at 9 a.m. at the Rock Hill Tennis Center in Rock Hill, S.C. C-N earned the fourth seed by virtue of its 5-4 win over Brevard on April 10. The match is a rematch of last year's tournament championship, which C-N won 5-2.
Carson-Newman, 10-3 overall, wraps up its non-conference schedule on Tuesday. Brevard is 13-5 overall. The winner of that match will face top-seeded Lincoln Memorial on Friday, April 23, at 9 a.m. in the semifinals.
Lincoln Memorial, which shared the regular-season championship with Tusculum College, is the No. 1 seed. LMU and Tusculum tied atop the league standings with 7-1 conference records. The Lady Railsplitters earned the top seed by virtue of their 5-4 win over Tusculum on April 2.
Both Lincoln Memorial and second-seed Tusculum will receive byes to the tennis tournament semifinals.
Lincoln Memorial (15-2 overall) still has two non-conference matches left this weekend, but are currently riding an 11-match winning streak. LMU won its first SAC women's tennis title and is having its best season since joining the NCAA in the early 90s.
Tusculum (7-1 SAC, 16-3) is ranked 11th in the Southeast Region in the latest Intercollegiate Tennis Association rankings. Tusculum won its fifth SAC women's tennis championship.
Wingate University is the third seed. The Bulldogs finished 6-2 in conference play and are 12-6 overall. Wingate will face sixth-seed Catawba College in one quarterfinal match on Thursday, April 22, at 9 a.m. Catawba is 3-5 in the SAC and 12-13 overall with one non-conference match left on its schedule.
The winner of the Wingate/Catawba match will face Tusculum on Friday, April 23, at 9 a.m.
The women's championship match is scheduled for 9 a.m. on Saturday, April 24.
All matches will be held at the Rock Hill Tennis Center in Rock Hill, S.C.
The tournament winner will receive an automatic bid into the NCAA Division II Women's Tennis Tournament.
Food Lion is the title sponsor for all South Atlantic Conference championships.
