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RICHMOND, Ky. – For the second straight year and third time in the past five seasons, the Eastern Kentucky University women’s tennis team will represent the Ohio Valley Conference in the NCAA championship tournament. The EKU women square off against No. 13 seed and host Clemson on at 1 p.m.
EKU (19-6) went undefeated in league play in 2013 with a singles line-up featuring four sophomores, including OVC Player of the Year
Amandine Faouzi, and two juniors.
Faouzi went 10-0 at the No. 1 spot versus league opponents this spring. The two-time first team All-OVC pick won all 10 of her conference matches in straight sets.
Two other women’s tennis players earned first team all-conference recognition – sophomore
Kristina Labeja and junior
Saioa Oscoz. Both players went 9-0 in league singles matches with Labeja filling the No. 2 position and Oscoz playing No. 3 singles. Oscoz has won 10 straight matches heading into the NCAA tournament.
Under head coach
Rob Oertel, the EKU women’s tennis team has won 22 straight regular season conference matches dating back to 2011.
Clemson (14-7) is hosting a regional for the first time since 2010, which was the last in a run of seven straight seasons that the Tigers hosted the first and second rounds. Sixteen of Clemson’s 21 matches this season came against teams that were selected to the NCAA tournament. The Tigers do not have any juniors or seniors on their current roster.
The EKU-Clemson winner will advance to play the winner of the match between No. 41 Indiana (18-9) and No. 19 Vanderbilt (15-11) on Saturday, May 11 at 1 p.m.
First and second round competition will be conducted Friday-Sunday, May 10-12, at 16 different regional sites with the winner of each site advancing to the NCAA Division I Tennis Team Championships at the Khan Outdoor Tennis Complex in Urbana, Ill., May 17-21.