The Daily Campus

Issue date: 4/17/08 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Matt Lin Aaron Ribchinsky is one of three graduating players on the men's tennis team.

Wednesday morning while most of campus was still sleeping, the men's and women's tennis teams were boarding their flights to Tampa, Fla. to compete in the Big East tournament for a chance to compete in the NCAA championship.

The men's tennis team has spent the year fine tuning their skills, and it shows. For the first time in eight years they earned a spot in the Big East championship as they received the No. 9 seed Wednesday. However, they aren't the only ones from UConn that will be playing.

With a much-improved team this season, the women earned themselves the No. 11 seed in the Big East. Nine total tennis teams will be competing in the men's conference and 12 in the women's. The matches will begin today, when the men will play the first match of the day at 9 a.m against No. 8 seed Villanova. The winner of this match will take on the No. 1 seed April 18 at 9 a.m.

Earlier this season the men's team played Villanova on April 6, resulting in the only tie of the year. The match went unfinished due to bad weather.

"We played Villanova last week in Washington D.C. The match ended in a tie but we never actually got to play them in doubles. It going to be hard but it should also be a good match," said sophomore Tom Cook.

It should come as no surprise to tennis fans that the Fighting Irish took the No. 1 seed for both men and women's conferences this year. The defending champions, Notre Dame's men's team continued to dominate things in the Big East conference this season. This is the fourth year in a row their men's team has earned the No. 1 seed and the tenth time since the '95-'96 season. As for the Irish's women team, this is the 12th time in 13 years that they are playing in the No. 1 seed, and the seventh potential time they could earn a championship.

As for the UConn women, they will also start play tomorrow when they'll look to defeat No. 12 Georgetown. The women have played the Hoyas once before this season when they defeating them 4-3 in Washington D.C. Despite this win earlier in the season, another win won't be as easy as some may think.

With the weather calling for temperatures close to 80 degrees this week, all the players in the tournament will have to work hard to get used to the warm southern climate.

"The wind plays a huge factor, that and the heat. It's going to be pretty tiring for us but if the wind stays down things should be okay" Cook said.

The only teams truly used to this weather are the South Florida men's and women's squads, the hosts of this week's tournament. This is the fourth year in a row the Bulls have hosted the conference, and they have placed in the No. 3 seed for both men and women.



Contact Holly Lynch at

Holly.Lynch@UConn.edu.

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