Dukes set for conference tournament

Women's Tennis

Kyra Papafil / file photo Sophomore Kristen Nordstrom serves during JMU's victory over GMU last week.

The JMU women's tennis team heads to the College of William & Mary Thursday for the Colonial Athletic Association Tournament April 22-25. The Dukes finished the season with a solid 12-6 record overall while going 3-1 in the conference. JMU enters the CAA tournament seeded fifth in a 10-team field.

In the tournament, JMU will face No. 4 seed University of North Carolina-Wilmington in the first round. UNC-Wilmington defeated JMU 4-3 in a hard-fought battle April 4.

Senior co-captain Margie Zesinger summed up the team's excitement about their rematch with UNC-W.

"The last match against UNC-W really pumped us up for the CAA tournament," Zesinger said.

Coach Maria Malerba echoed Zesinger's sentiments.

"They're all really psyched to play UNC-W again after coming so close to beating them [the last time they played each other]," he said.

No. 1 seed William & Mary has won 16 out of the last 18 CAA tournaments, including 15 in a row between 1986-2000. The No. 2 seed, Virginia Commonwealth University, is the defending CAA champ, and will to be tough to beat again, according to senior co-captain Spencer Brown.

"This year's tournament's field is tough as it always is," she said. "But William & Mary and VCU are the two nationally ranked teams that are going to be hard to beat."

William & Mary currently is ranked No. 38 nationally in the latest Intercollegiate Tennis Association college rankings, while VCU is ranked No. 53. Both teams have singles players ranked in the ITA top 100. William &Mary's Megan Muth currently is ranked No. 25, while VCU's Olga Barisova and Silvia Urickova are ranked No. 59 and No. 66, respectively.

In order for JMU to beat UNC-W and advance in the CAA tournament, there are a number of players the Dukes will rely on, two of which are Zesinger and Brown.

In addition to being the Dukes' No. 1-and No. 3-ranked singles players, respectively, also are a formidable doubles team at the No. 2 position.

Also, the Dukes will look to juniors Kristin Veith and Rebecca Vanderelst for important contributions. Veith and Vanderelst make up the Dukes' No. 1 doubles team and have played well together all year. Veith also happens to be the Dukes' No. 2 singles player, while Vanderelst plays at the No. 4 position.

The JMU women's tennis team plays UNC-W Friday at 4:30 p.m. in the first round of the CAA tournament.