Monday, 04/18/2011

Rock Hill, S.C.----Regular season champion Wingate University is the top seed for the 2011 Food Lion South Atlantic Conference women’s tennis tournament, the conference office announced. The 2011 event will be held at the Rock Hill Tennis Center. The number 32 team in the Campbell/ITA NCAA Division II national rankings, Wingate completed the 2011 regular season 19-1 overall and 9-0 in the SAC.

The Bulldogs have won 17 matches in a row entering the league’s post-season event. Wingate wrapped up a perfect conference slate with a 6-3 victory over Brevard College on Friday. Wingate’s SAC regular season title is its first crown since 2003. Wingate and head coach Michael Cabana have been steadily moving up the charts. During Cabana’s five seasons at the Bulldog helm, his teams have finished seventh, fifth, third (twice) and first in the regular season standings.

Mars Hill College and Brevard College tied for second with 7-2 conference records. Mars Hill (10-5 overall) earned the second seed by virtue of its 7-2 victory over Brevard on April 6. Both Mars Hill and Wingate will have byes to Thursday’s semifinals.

Brevard (14-7 overall) is the third seed and will face number six Tusculum College in quarter-final action on Wednesday at 1 p.m. The TC Pioneers (11-8 overall) advanced to the tournament championship match last year.

The other quarter-final match will have fourth seed Lincoln Memorial University taking on fifth seed Anderson (S.C.) University at 1 p.m. on Wednesday. LMU (13-4 overall) and Anderson (11-7 overall) tied for fourth in the regular season standings with 6-3 conference records. The Railsplitters earned the fourth seed by virtue of their 5-4 victory over the Trojans on March 7. LMU is the defending tournament champion.

The winner of the LMU/Anderson match will face number one seed Wingate in one semi-final match on Thursday at 1 p.m. The winner of the Brevard/Tusculum match will face number two Mars Hill in the other semi-final match.

Following the women’s tournament semi-finals on Thursday, coaches and student-athletes from South Atlantic Conference men’s and women’s tennis teams will conduct a youth tennis clinic at the Rock Hill Tennis Center from 5 p.m. until 6 p.m.

The semi-final winners will meet for the tournament championship on Friday at 1 p.m. For more information on the Rock Hill Tennis Center, click here. Follow the links for more information on visiting Rock Hill and York County.

The tournament winner will receive an automatic bid into the NCAA Division II women’s tennis tournament. Food Lion is the title sponsor for all South Atlantic Conference championships.