ROCK HILL, SC – After finishing the conference season 8-0, the Winthrop women's tennis team earned the No. 1 seed in the Big South Conference Women's Tennis Championship, it was announced by the conference office on Saturday. This is the second straight year the Eagles earned the top-seed.

Winthrop will square off against No. 8 seed UNC Asheville on Thursday, April 19 at 8:30 a.m. in the opening match of this season's tournament, which will be held in Asheville, NC. The Eagles blanked the Bulldogs 7-0 when the teams met on March 18 in Asheville.

“I'm proud of my players for earning the number one seed,” head coach Cid Carvalho said. “We are looking forward to the tournament.”

The regular season champions will come into Thursday's match with three players having perfect 8-0 singles records on the season. Juniors Yasmine Alkema and Giovanna Portioli, along with sophomore Andressa Garcia have not dropped a conference match in the singles round this season, as Alkema and Garcia also went perfect in the doubles round with a matching 8-0 record.

If Winthrop were to move past UNC Asheville, the Eagles will play the winner of the No. 4 Radford and No. 5 Gardner-Webb matchup at 10 a.m. on Friday, April 20. Charleston Southern garnered the No. 2 seed and will face the No. 7 seed Campbell, as Coastal Carolina will be the No. 3 seed and will play Liberty, the No. 6 seed.

The Conference Championship schedule is as follows:

Thursday, April 19 – Asheville, N.C.
Match 1:  No. 1 Winthrop vs. No. 8 UNC Asheville, 8:30am ET
Match 2:  No. 4 Radford vs. No. 5 Gardner-Webb, not before 10:30am ET
Match 3:  No. 2 Charleston Southern vs. No. 7 Campbell, 1:30pm ET
Match 4: No. 3 Coastal Carolina vs. No. 6 Liberty, not before 3:30pm ET

Friday, April 20 (semifinals) – Asheville, N.C.
Match 5:  Match 1 winner vs. Match 2 winner, 10:00am ET
Match 6:  Match 3 winner vs. Match 4 winner, 1:00pm ET

Saturday, April 21 (Finals) – Asheville, N.C.
Match 7:  Match 5 winner vs. Match 6 winner, 9:00am ET