ROCK HILL, SC – The No. 75 ranked Winthrop women's tennis team captured its fourth straight Big South title as the Lady Eagles defeated Coastal Carolina 4-1 Saturday afternoon at the Memorial Courts to earn the NCAA Tournament automatic bid.
The championship is the ninth for the Lady Eagles in the last ten years. Overall, Winthrop has taken thirteen Big South Championships. The Lady Eagles will enter the NCAA Tournament with a 17-11 record. This will also be the 11
th time head coach
Cid Carvalho has taken a Winthrop women's team to the NCAA Tournament. Carvalho has also led the men's team to five appearances, but their bid for a sixth title eneded with a loss to Radford in the championship match.
“I'm very proud of the girls,” head coach
Cid Carvalho said. “They played a very tough match against a very tough Coastal Carolina team.”
Winthrop got off to a fast start as they were able to capture the doubles point. In No. 2 doubles, Winthrop's
Sandra Herrera and Giovanna Portioli defeated Miki Bunea and Diana Mortlock 8-5. At the No. 3 position,
Andressa Garcia and
Elizaveta Zaytseva came back from a 4-1 deficit to knock off Caitlyn Brooksbank and Kourtney Kowal 8-6.
The Lady Eagles continued to run through the singles round as they took three matches to clinch the championship. In No. 1 singles, player of the year
Yasmine Alkema defeated Lexi Bolesky 6-1, 6-1, as Herrera brought down Kowal 7-6, 6-0 in No. 3 singles. The clinching match came at No. 5 singles as the freshman Garcia fended off Mortlock 3-6, 6-4, 6-4.
“The match went right down to the wire,” Carvalho said. “I'm proud of the way we came out on top.”
The Lady Eagles will learn its NCAA Tournament fate on May 3 when the tournament pairings will be released on NCAA.com. The selection show is set for 5 p.m.
