The University of Richmond women's tennis team parlayed a No. 1 seed into an Atlantic 10 Championship Sunday, dethroning reigning conference champion Temple University 4-0 and ensuring the team a spot in the NCAA Championships next month.
The Spiders won their sixth A - 10 Championship behind strong play from the entire team. In doubles competition, junior Erin Clark and senior Ashlee Vosters defeated Elyse Steiner and Lucie Pazderova, 8-5, while senior Pamela Duran and sophomore Isabel Arana defeated Theresa Stangl and Josephine Bergman, 8-1.
Richmond's dominance continued in the singles competition, as Duran scored a 6-1, 6-2 win over Temple's Steiner. Clark then defeated Pazderova, 6-3, 6-0, and freshman Helen Cunningham finished with a 6-3, 6-1 victory against Anastasia Rukavyshnykova.
"We are happy to get back to our winning tradition," said coach Mark Wesselink. Richmond had won four consecutive Atlantic 10 Championships until Temple ended their streak last year.
With the win, Richmond improved to a 17-5 season, which puts this year's team on a similar level as the teams that reigned over the conference for the last several years, Wesselink said.
The team's depth and its ability to stay healthy propelled the Spiders to the conference championship this season, said sophomore Kelly Tidwell, who competed in singles competition.
"To have players as good as we do not in the actual lineup is really impressive," she said.
The conference tournament took place in Monroeville, Pa., from April 17 to 19. Before facing Temple, Richmond defeated No. 8 St. Louis University and No. 5 University of North Carolina at Charlotte. The Spiders were especially motivated to defeat 2008 conference champions Temple, who they also defeated early on in the season, Wesselink said.
Looking forward to the NCAA Championships May 8-9, Wesselink is optimistic and hopes his team can win at least one round.
"It will be a challenge, but this team is tough," Wesselink said.
Contact staff writer Jimmy Young at jimmy.young@richmond.edu
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