MONROE, La. ? The second-seed University of South Alabama women’s tennis team will begin competition at the 2008 Sun Belt Conference Tournament Friday evening at Heard Stadium. The Jag women, along with the three other top seeds received first round byes. USA will face the winner of No. 7 Arkansas State/No. 10 Louisiana-Monroe at 6:30 p.m. Tournament action for the rest of the field is scheduled to begin Friday morning on the University of Louisiana-Monroe campus.
The 45th-ranked South Alabama women (17-4) are 7-1 this spring against league competition, including a 6-1 victory over ULM in Mobile. The Jag women will be gunning for their 17th Sun Belt Conference Tournament Championship this weekend.
Adrianna Solarova and Michaela Babicova also earned All-Sun Belt Conference selections in singles play on Thursday evening at the annual pre-tournament banquet. The honor for Solarova is her third straight for singles play, while the all-league selection is the second consecutive for Babicova. Solarova is 19-6 overall in singles competition this season and 16-5 in dual match play. The Jag netter also sports a 7-1 mark against SBC foes. Babicova boast a 20-6 overall mark and a 15-5 record this spring. She was also 6-1 against conference competitors this spring.
Along with South Alabama, Florida International and Denver also each had two players earn all-SBC honors in singles action, while the Golden Panthers (Priscilla Castillo/Liset Brito and Egle Petrauskaite/Liset Brito) also had two doubles teams record the honor, as well as the Pioneers’ doubles team of Julia Bauregger/Mallory Voelker. Joining Solarova and Babicova on the All-Sun Belt singles squad were Petrauskaite (FIU), Brito (FIU), Voelker (DU) and Annette Aksdal (DU).
Denver enters as the top seed on the women’s sides of the tournament. The tournament will take place at two sites on the first day ? ULM’s Heard Stadium and Forsythe Tennis Center will both be used. Heard Stadium will be the only site used for Saturday and Sunday’s matches. The men’s and women’s championship matches will be web streamed live on the Sun Belt Conference’s website ? www.sunbeltsports.org.
All-Conference Women’s Singles
No. 65 Mallory Voelker, Denver
No. 51 Liset Brito, Florida International
No. 53 Egle Petrauskaite, Florida International
Michaela Babicova, South Alabama
Adriana Solarova, South Alabama
Annette Aksdal, Denver
All-Conference Women’s Doubles
No. 27 Egle Petrauskaite/Liset Brito, Florida International
No. 51 Priscilla Castillo/Liset Brito, Florida International
No. 53 Julia Bauregger/ Mallory Voelker, Denver
Women's Championship Seeds
1. Denver (No. 28)
2. South Alabama (No. 45)
3. Florida International (No. 51)
4. Louisiana-Lafayette
5. Troy
6. North Texas
7. Arkansas State
8. Middle Tennessee
9. UALR
10. Louisiana-Monroe
11. Florida Atlantic
12. Western Kentucky
