SPORTS

 

DAVIDSON, N.C. — The Davidson women’s tennis team will begin its quest for its first league title when the Atlantic 10 Women’s Tennis Championship starts Wednesday, April 24, in Orlando, Fla., at the USTA National Campus.

The Wildcats, who went 12-10 during the regular season and 5-4 in league matches, earned the fifth overall seed out of 14 teams. They will be seeking the program’s first-ever tournament title after just missing out several times in the Southern Conference. Davidson has reached the championship match once in its four trips to the A-10 Championship, making it in 2016 where it dropped a 4-2 decision to VCU.

The ‘Cats earned their five league wins against Dayton, Fordham, Richmond, George Mason and Rhode Island.

Davidson will open tournament play vs. 12th-seeded Saint Joseph’s (3-18, 2-7 A-10) on Wednesday, with match time set for 9 a.m. If the Wildcats advance, they would take on the winner of fourth-seeded Duquesne (14-6, 6-1 A-10) and 13th-seeded St. Bonaventure (8-14, 1-3 A-10), Thursday at 6 p.m. in the quarterfinals.

All matches will have live stats and can be followed by clicking the link above on A-10 Women’s Tennis Championship Central.

The All-Time Series/Last Meeting
This will be Davidson’s fifth matchup against the Hawks and the first time playing them in the tournament. Davidson holds a 4-0 lead in the series, having played SJU in 2018 and earning a 6-1 home win.

It would be the Wildcats seventh meeting (5-1 in the series) against the Duquesne Dukes, who defeat the ‘Cats 4-3 earlier this season to snap a five-game losing streak in the series. If the ‘Cats face St. Bonaventure, it would be the fourth meeting all-time, all coming in the conference tournament where they have won each of the meetings.

A-10 Tournament / Conference Tournament History
The Wildcats are making their fifth appearance in the A-10 Tournament. A year ago, they reached the quarterfinals with a win against St. Bonaventure in the first round, but the season ended there with a 4-0 setback to UMass. Overall, Davidson has a record of 6-4 in the league tournament.

During their run in the SoCon, which started in 1993, the ‘Cats had a 17-16 tournament record. In three of the last 10 league tournaments, they reached the finals, falling to Furman each time.

VCU (15-5) earned the No. 1 seed for the seventh consecutive year. Dating back to 2013, it has won the tournament six of the past seven seasons, including four straight times from 2013-2016.

Scouting the Wildcat Women- Quick Hits
• Davidson’s 12 wins made it five years in a row with double-digit victories on the season. A year ago it had 16, while earning 15 in 0217, 18 in 2016 and 12 in 2015.
• For the second year in row, the Wildcats won 10 straight matches at one time during the season, the second-longest streak in the past three years.
• They finished the regular season winning two of their final three matches, all against A-10 foes (Dayton and Fordham)
• Davidson went an impressive 8-2 at home this year and is 19-3 the past two seasons combined.
•The ‘Cats were 4-6 on the road and 0-2 in neutral site matches.
• Head coach Susanne Depka is in her second season at the helm of the program after serving as the assistant coach the previous three years.
• The ‘Cats as a team earned 65 singles wins during the regular season, with 21 of them coming against the A-10.
• Three of the six singles players collected over 10 wins each on the season.
• Freshman Elizabeth Truluck led the way with a 15-6 record, collecting 12 of those wins at No. 5 singles.
• Truluck was a two-time A-10 Rookie of the Week winner.
• Samantha Armas and Alexandra Abele finished the regular season with 14-6 and 13-8 records, respectively.
• Abele has 44 career wins in three years, while Armas set a personal-best this season in wins.
• Davidson was solid in doubles this year, as three teams won at least 10 matches led by the duo of Megan Scholvinck and Truluck at No. 1 with an 11-10 record.
• The Wildcats as a team went 33-27 and had a 14-10 record vs. league foes.
• The Wildcats used eight different doubles combinations on the season.
• Gabrielle Centenari and Nicole Krykanov went 10-4 as a team together, all at No. 3 doubles.