Women's Tennis seeded third in SLIAC Tournament

Fontbonne University women's tennis earned their highest seeding ever in the SLIAC Tournament. The Griffins take on Blackburn College at 9 a.m. Friday, April 21st at Principia High School.

April 20, 2017

St. Louis, Mo. - Fontbonne University women's tennis is gearing up for an unpreceded seeding into the 2017 St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference women's tennis tournament. The Griffins earned a No. 3-seed, the highest the program has ever earned.

Fontbonne, Greenville and Westminster all tied for third place with the Griffins taking the tie-breaker. Fontbonne opens the tournament with a 9 a.m. contest against No. 9-seeded Blackburn College. Friday's events will take place outside at Principia High School at 13201 Clayton Rd, St. Louis, MO 63131

Due to the weather, Saturday's game locations are still to be determined.

Seeds

1. Principia 2. Webster 3. Fontbonne 4. Westminster 5. Greenville 6. Blackburn

Friday

9:00am Match 1 Fontbonne vs Blackburn

Match 2 Westminster vs Greenville

12:00pm Match 3 Match 1 loser vs Match 2 loser

3:00pm Match 4 Principia vs. Winner of Match 2

Match 5 Webster vs. Winner of Match 1

The Tournament
The 2017 St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference will hold their annual women's tennis tournament this weekend at Principia High School in St. Louis, Mo. Blackburn College, Fontbonne University, Greenville College, Principia College, Webster University and Westminster College will be competing in the six-team, double elimination format tournament. If there is rain the matches will be split between sites to be determined.

The tournament setup will feature five matches on Friday and two matches on Saturday. Friday's matches begin at 9 a.m. and will start with #3 Fontbonne facing #6 Blackburn as well as #4 Westminster taking on #5 Greenville. The losers of the first two matches will then play at 12 p.m. in the SLIAC Tournament fifth-place match. Friday's matches will conclude when #1 Principia faces the winner of Greenville/Westminster and #2 Webster facing the winner of Blackburn/Fontbonne at 3 p.m. On Saturday both the Championship Match and Third-Place Match are set for 11 a.m. starts.

Principia won the tournament in 2016 as the Panthers and Webster have traded titles since 2010. In fact, only three programs in the history of the SLIAC have won the tournament; Principia (19 times), Webster (3 times), and Westminster (4 times).

	BLACKBURN COLLEGE 'BEAVERS' Blackburn was 0-10 this season, winning just four points on the year. Gariel Pierce recorded two of those wins, both coming at her typical #2 singles position. Karlee Brimberry also notched a win, at #1 singles, as did Sam Brown, at #4 singles. The Beavers doubles teams failed to win a point this season with Brimberry and Pierce teaming up at #1 doubles.
	FONTBONNE UNIVERSITY 'GRIFFINS' Fontbonne was 3-14 overall this season but finished 2-3 in conference play, securing their highest seed ever in the SLIAC Tournament. The Griffins' Morgan Smith led the team with nine singles wins on the season, all coming at #2 singles, and has won five straight. Mariana Rogers, the team's #1 player, picked up a total of 14 wins this year including eight in singles action.
	GREENVILLE COLLEGE 'PANTHERS' Greenville went 4-8 overall this season and closed out conference play with a 2-3 mark. The Panthers' Christina Bowman led the team with four wins during conference play, splitting time between #2 and #3 singles. Allison Fennewald, the team's #1 player, added two wins during SLIAC action. The doubles team of Courtney Blaser and Fennewald paced the Panthers with two SLIAC victories.
	PRINCIPIA COLLEGE 'PANTHERS' Despite going 6-12 overall this season Principia managed to go undefeated in conference play at 5-0. The Panthers' Paige Cooley, the 2016 Player of the Year, led the team with 10 singles wins and 17 total wins this season. Anh Vu totaled six wins in singles play while Caitlin Carney and Nathalie DeLoach each added five singles wins. The team of Gracie Buchanan and Nathalie DeLoach were the only Panthers to have a winning record in doubles, over multiple matches, this year, going 4-1.
	WEBSTER UNIVERSITY 'GORLOKS' Webster went 10-8 overall this year, including a 4-1 record in the SLIAC. The Gorloks lone conference loss was a 5-4 decision to Principia last week. Top player Monica Behrle accumulated 23 combined wins this season including 13 in singles play. Chelsea Foster and Stephanie Lass joined Behrle in the double digit win club with both going undefeated in conference play. Foster and Lass also teamed up to form the top winning pair in doubles for the Gorloks this season.
	WESTMINSTER COLLEGE 'BLUE JAYS' Westminster went 5-6 this season. The Blue Jays had a busy spring, playing nine of their matches since March 15. The Blue Jays went 2-3 in the conference this year, defeating Blackburn and Fontbonne. Sydney Atteberry is the team's top player while Clara Baldwin will be playing at #2 singles and Natalie Tiffany is in the third spot. Atteberry and Baldwin are the likely top pairing in doubles.

Preview provided by SLIAC Sports Information