The Seattle University women's tennis team looks to end their season on a strong note this weekend, April 21-22, at the Great West Conference Tournament held in Harlingen, Texas. Seattle U earned the number two ranking the conference championships and was given a bye directly to the conference semi-finals. They will face either third-ranked and host school Texas Pan-American or #6 CSU Bakersfield Saturday afternoon, April 21, with an anticipated start time of 4:00 PST.
The New Jersey Institute of Technology is the top-ranked team in the tournament after compiling a 19-3 dual record this season. They will face the winner of the quarter-final match between fourth-ranked North Dakota and #5 Chicago State before the Redhawks' match Saturday afternoon.
Three Redhawks players enter the tournament with individual winning streaks. Lindsey Newman (Freeland, Wash.) has won her last eight singles contests, her second steak of seven or more victories this spring. Overall, she's 19-6 on the dual season and has the best singles record on the team.
Sarah Lucas (Las Vegas, Nev.) has a four-match singles winning streak and has won 15 individual matches on the season. Also, Katrina Schwab won her last three singles matches and is entering the conference tournament off a strong 6-3, 6-0 victory at number one singles over Northern Arizona.
Corinne Wurden (Poulsbo, Wash.) also has a record over .500, having won 12 singles matches and lost seven. Nicole Nakaoka (Honolulu, Hawaii) has been used in the singles lineup sparingly, but has yet to lose an individual match as she is 5-0 in singles play.
Schwab and Wurden make up the team's top doubles pair, compiling a 13-11 record in the first two doubles slots. Lucas and Gabriella Weissmann (Simi Valley, Calif.) are 8-8 when playing doubles matches together as well.
The Redhawks took third place at last year's Great West Conference Championship, losing in the semi-finals to NJIT 4-0 but winning the third place match against Texas Pan-American 4-0.
No matter the outcome of Saturday's match, the Redhawks will play Sunday April 22 as well. The third place game will put the semi-final losers against each other at 7:00 a.m. PST, while the semi-final winners will square off for the conference title at 10:00 a.m. PST.