(CSTV U-WIRE) AMHERST, Mass. -- Coming off a successful season, the Massachusetts tennis team hopes to advance deep into the Atlantic 10 Tournament this weekend.
However, the Minutewomen (11-7, 2-1 A-10) must take one step at a time, and will commence their push towards a conference championship with an early, 10:30 a.m. match against the St. Joseph's Hawks (11-8) today.
The regular season ended on a positive note with victories over Quinnipiac and Rhode Island. The wins helped the team accomplish another impressive feat on their already historic season.
With their 11 victories on the season, the Minutewomen were just nationally ranked No. 125 in the FILA Poll. In the team's 31 years in existence, no other team has ever been nationally ranked.
The strong A-10 holds three other teams in the Top 125. Entering the weekend, Temple is ranked No. 86, Richmond is just behind at No. 90 and Xavier is slightly ahead of the UMass at No. 120.
Michelle Spiess, UMass' all-time singles wins leader, also won her third Atlantic 10 Women's Player of Week award.
The Minutewomen come into the tournament as a four seed in a pool of fourteen. The Hawks sit second from the bottom, holding the thirteen spot.
Though in the same division, the two opponents have only faced each other twice in the past. The most recent contest resulted in a 4-0 UMass victory back in the 2002 Atlantic 10 Tournament.
Barring an unforeseen change in both team's lineups, the first singles match will include two former Louisville players on opposite sides of the court. Senior Michele Spiess went 19-10 for the Cardinals her freshman year at the first singles spot before changing allegiances and arriving in Amherst. St. Joseph's Stephania Velazquez, currently a junior, went 2-0 her freshman year at the No. 6 singles spot at Louisville.
Velazquez is 10-10 at the top singles slot on the season, and Spiess, the reigning A-10 Player of the Year, comes in with a more notable record.
An intriguing match comes at the second singles position. Masha Pozar has performed superb as of late, winning nine of her last eleven matches. During this time, one of the two losses came as a result of back spasms that forced her to forfeit the match.
Pozar's opponent will be freshman phenom Jennifer Kedzierski. After winning fifteen straight matches to start the season, Kedzierski has faltered in her last two matches.
If the first doubles team of Spiess and Pozar is retained, it will be nearly impossible for the opposition to compete. The tandem has repeatedly overwhelmed opponents with their outstanding skills.
