Women's tennis moves to first in Atlantic 10

Whether you see one member on the court or eight on the sideline, the University of Richmond women's tennis team stands as one.

Senior Ashlee Vosters said that the word "team" had been a big part of the Spiders' mindset this year.

"Instead of tennis as an individual sport, focusing on the importance of team and us working together has been really important for this group of tennis players," Vosters said.

This focus on being a team helped the Spiders push their regular season record to 12-3 with recent victories against Xavier University on March 20 and East Carolina University on March 24. In the East Carolina match, the Spiders swept every match in doubles and lost only one singles match on their way to the 6-1 win.

With one conference match left on their schedule, Vosters said it would be essential to finish the rest of the regular season on a strong note.

"It is going to be important for us to build off of our momentum that we have had so far in our season and bring our best efforts to these upcoming conference matches," she said.

Senior Xenia Schneider said that one goal the team had this season was getting the Atlantic 10 championship title back.

"We have three seniors on the team and the three of us have a big influence in motivating the team," she said. "Much of the team has never been to A-10's before so they are not sure what to expect. But we tell them we are going to win and we have a chance."

The Spiders' last conference match will be at home against the University of Massachusetts at 10:30 a.m. on March 28. Because the team's conference record will determine its seed for the A-10 Championships, Vosters said it would focus on taking the matches very seriously and would bring 100 percent of its effort.

Winning these last matches will be an important step in getting a good seed for the A-10 tournament, she said.

Both Vosters and Schneider said the team was capable of accomplishing a lot, which included winning the A-10 championship. Vosters said her goal for the team was to not only win A-10's, but also to win a round in the NCAA tournament.

Despite any hype surrounding these next matches and tournaments, Schneider emphasized that being a team would be a big strength.

"We respect each other's weaknesses and we build on each other's strengths," she said. "We all make sacrifices in order to have the team succeed. We want the best as a team because that is who we are."

Contact staff reporter Rudy Pett at rudy.pett@richmond.edu