Women's Tennis Opens Conference Tournament on Saturday

CLINTON, S.C. – The Presbyterian College women's tennis team begins its pursuit for the 2022 Big South Conference Championship on Saturday in Asheville battling the fourth seeded UNC Asheville at 12 p.m. from the Asheville Racquet Club.

MATCHDAY CENTRAL
MATCHUP: No. 5 Presbyterian (6-14, 4-4 Big South) at No. 4 UNC Asheville (12-5, 4-4 Big South)
TIME: Saturday April 16, 12 p.m.
LOCATION: Asheville Racquet Club (Asheville, N.C.)
LIVE STATS

COACH ROBERTS ON UNC ASHEVILLE MATCH
"New season starts Saturday with the first round of the conference tournament. The team has been super locked in this week and they will be ready to go Saturday. We know Asheville is a good team and we want come away with a win on Saturday."

SCOUTING THE BULLDOGS
- UNC Asheville enters with an 12-5 record as the four seed in the tournament this weekend. The Bulldogs suffered a 7-0 setback to top seed Charleston Southern in their regular season finale.
- Ami Grace Dougah leads the Bulldogs with a 13-3 record with Linge Steenkamp and Lize Alet Morkel with 11 wins apiece.
- Dougah and Rosie Dickson are 12-2 at No. 1 doubles to lead Asheville with Taylor Love and Morkel at 13-3 on the year.
- UNC Asheville is 11-5 all-time against Presbyterian in the DI era with Asheville winning 7-0 in the last meeting in Asheville just last week.

SCOUTING THE BLUE HOSE
- The Blue Hose have been led in 2022 by Beth Lacey with 12 singles wins which includes eight wins at the No. 5 spot in singles play. Lacey went 6-2 in league matches this season.
- Freshman Claudia Sanchez has totaled 10 wins on the year with a 5-3 mark in conference play.
- In doubles play, Zeba Jamal paired with Lacey recorded a team-high six doubles wins with four of those coming in conference matches.

TOURNAMENT HISTORY
- Saturday's match with Asheville will be the ninth time that PC has competed in a Big South Championship match with only one win in the previous nine tries in the Championship.
- Asheville has defeated PC in both tournament meetings including a 4-2 decision in the 2019 Big South quarterfinals.

JAMAL EARNS BIG SOUTH HONORS
- Presbyterian College senior Zeba Jamal was named the Big South Women's Tennis Co-Player of the Week, for the week of March 14-20, the league announced on Wednesday.
- It's the first Player of the Week honor for Jamal in her Blue Hose career and the fourth award that PC has earned in the 2022 season. Senior Jessica Leeman earned a Player of Week earlier this season and freshman Claudia Sanchez netted two Freshman of the Week honors.
- The Bradenton, Fla. native paired with senior Beth Lacey earned a dominating 6-1 win at No. 2 doubles that propelled the Blue Hose to a 1-0 lead on Saturday against Radford. Jamal and Lacey improved to 3-0 in doubles action in conference play for the Blue Hose.
- Playing from the No. 1 singles position, Jamal battled back from a first set defeat to win in three sets with an 11-9 super tiebreak in the third set to defeat the reigning Big South Player and Freshman of the Year.

UP NEXT
- The winner of Saturday's match advances to next Friday's semifinals at the Marion Diehl Tennis Center to battle No. 1 seed Charleston Southern at 11 a.m…

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Players Mentioned

Beth Lacey: 5' 5"; Sophomore

Jessica Leeman: 5' 7"; Sophomore

Zeba Jamal: 5' 8"; Sophomore

Claudia Sanchez: 5' 4"; Freshman

Players Mentioned

Beth Lacey
: 5' 5"; Sophomore

Jessica Leeman
: 5' 7"; Sophomore

Zeba Jamal
: 5' 8"; Sophomore

Claudia Sanchez
: 5' 4"; Freshman