Tennis: Women’s team top seed for tournament, poised to go deep
The regular season:
The Tribe rides a four-match winning streak into today’s match in Norfolk. Currently ranked No. 49 in the nation, the team is peaking at the right time, having recently knocked off CAA foe No. 31 Virginia Commonwealth and No. 40 Brown. The College finished with a 13-8 record, but also suffered disappointing losses to No. 56 Princeton and No. 66 Winthrop.
How the Tribe stacks up:
The Tribe will open the tournament as its No. 1 seed, slated to face No. 9 Drexel. The College only played two conference matches all season, beating VCU, the tournament’s No. 2 seed, and Old Dominion, the No. 5 seed.
Key player: Marlen Mesgarzadeh
The sophomore has recently been playing in the No. 2 slot, behind freshman Hope Johnson, but has carried the team as of late, winning her last four singles matches. Mesgarzadeh earned CAA Player of the Week honors twice, finishing the season with a 6-1 singles record in the No. 2 slot.
Tennis: After beating ODU, men’s team heads for quarterfinal rematch
The regular season:
It’s been a difficult season for the Tribe, which lost eight of its last 10 matches en route to an 11-13 final record. Still, the College found some reason for optimism from its final match, in which it rebounded from losing the doubles point to take a 4-2 win over conference-foe Old Dominion. The team spent about a month and a half in the national rankings, hovering in the mid-70s and climbing all the way to No. 68 at one point, but ultimately fell out during its late-season losing streak.
How the Tribe stacks up:
The College will play as the No. 4 seed, taking on the same team it just defeated, No. 5 Old Dominion, in the quarterfinal round. This time, though, the Monarchs will have home-court advantage, playing in Norfolk. Besides ODU, the Tribe beat No. 6 James Madison but lost to No. 1 VCU and No. 3 UNC-Wilmington
Key player: Anton Andersson
The Tribe’s No. 1 player gutted out a three-set win over ODU’s No. 1 to clinch the match victory in the team’s regular season finale. The sophomore finished the season with 16 overall wins and 10 in the No. 1 spot.
Golf: Men’s team looking to make run in open field
The regular season:
It’s been an up-and-down year for the Tribe, having finished on the top half of the leaderboard in just four of the nine tournaments it participated in. The spring has been kind, though. The team opened it, finishing second of 14 at the Wexford Plantation Invitational and finishing the regular season in third of 16 at the Rutherford Intercollegiate.
How the Tribe stacks up:
It could be anyone’s tournament. The College is coming off the Rutherford Intercollegiate, in which it finished third of 16, just behind CAA-foe Towson and ahead of conference-opponents Delaware, George Mason and JMU. Back at the C&F Bank Invitational on March 21, the team finished eighth of 24, behind JMU, Towson and Delaware but ahead of the CAA’s Hofstra.
Key player: Jeremy Wells
The sophomore is coming off one of his best performances of the year, shooting a +7 at the Rutherford Intercollegiate, good for the fourth-best score of the entire tournament. He also shot even par at the C&F Bank Invitational.
Golf: Freshman leads women’s team looking to salvage season
The regular season:
When it started, this season looked like it would be successful for the College. It finished second of 18 at the Bucknell Invitational in September, and for the most part played very well through the fall. The spring was a different story, though, as the team racked up finishes of 17th of 33, 14th of 17, eighth of 22 and ninth of 10.
How the Tribe stacks up:
The team’s final tournament of the regular season, the UNC-W Lady Seahawk Classic in early April, could serve as a good barometer of where the College sits in the CAA, and its reading isn’t pretty. The team finished ninth of 10 overall, and behind three teams who will also be playing in Pinehurst.
Key player: Emily Gimpel
The Tribe will hope that the freshman won’t be daunted playing in her first CAA tournament, as Gimpel has been a top performer for the team as of late. She posted the team’s best score in all of its last three tournaments, including a +13 that tied her for 14 at the C&F Bank Intercollegiate.