Charlotte's Ana Spivakovsky leads the Niners to the Atlantic 10 Championships this weekend. |
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April 16, 2008
Complete Tournament Bracket in PDF Format
Monroeville, Pa. -
At the end of an up-and-down year on and off the court, the Charlotte 49ers women's tennis team garnered a seven-seed and will face George Washington at this weekend's Atlantic 10 Championships at the Club 4 Life in Monroeville, Pa. Weather caused plenty of postponements, cancellations and schedule juggling this season.
Players have been in and out of the line-up this season with varying injuries and schedule issues. Those issues, combined with the fact that due to weather, the Niners were unable to face any conference opponents on the schedule this season, makes it hard to clearly see where Charlotte fits in for the seeding process.
"I'm glad I wasn't on the seeding committee," said Niners head coach Michaela Quinn, preparing her team for this weekend's event. "It has been a crazy semester. Players have been playing in different spots in the line-up, which was sometimes difficult to manage. We focused, though, on what we could control and not on what we could not control. It was important for us to concentrate on the tennis and how our players play it and not their position in the line-up."
Charlotte has not seen many of the teams in the league, but those teams have not been able to scout the Niners either, creating interesting match-up issues and a different style of play.
"We communicate on the court a great deal anyway," said Quinn on preparation. "But the difference in this type of tennis is that we scout the opponent on the fly in the match and communicate the individual strategies with our players during the match. Both teams will have to adjust their game plans. It's a little easier to go in knowing your opponent, but they have not seen us either, so there is no advantage wither way"
Charlotte starts their tournament play on Friday morning at 8 a.m. and with a win would draw second-seeded Temple later that afternoon at 3:30 p.m. for a chance at a Saturday semi-final match.
"We have seen GW in the past few years, so it will be nice to play someone we have a little experience with," said Quinn. "I just want to get up there and try to outwork our opponents this weekend and end this season on a high note."
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