ROCK HILL, S.C. – Regular season champion and top-seeded Winthrop (16-5, 8-0 Big South Conference) opens play in the Big South Women's Tennis Championship Thurs., Apr. 19 at 9 a.m., taking on ninth-seeded Longwood. Winthrop is pursuing its 20^th Big South Tournament Championship in program history.
          

Winthrop (16-5, 8-0) vs. Longwood (9-10, 0-7)
Date:	Thurs., Apr. 19, 9 a.m.
Location:	Rock Hill Tennis Center
Live Stats:	WinthropEagles.com (click here)
Admission:	Free

 




 
EAGLE HIGHLIGHTS
-Winthrop claimed the regular season Big South Conference championship with an undefeated 8-0 league record, its 19^th in program history.

-Keep an eye on the doubles point – Winthrop has won the doubles point 18 out of its 21 matches this season. Every Winthrop doubles pair owns a winning record: No. 29 Megan Kauffman/Lauren Proctor at 19-0; Tayla Van Eck/Alisa Soloveva at 12-7; Ellie Burns/Aida Kelic at 10-8.

- No. 32 Lauren Proctor (17-2) and Alisa Soloveva (17-3) own the best two records in the Big South Conference. Proctor is undefeated in conference play and has won all but one of her league matches in straight-sets, while Soloveva has also won each of her conference matches without dropping a set.
 
-No Eagle has lost more than two singles matches in conference play.

AN EYE ON THE OPPONENT
Longwood pulled out a 4-3 win in the first round Wednesday over eighth-seeded Gardner-Webb. The victory was the first for the Lancers over a conference opponent this season. In the regular season matchup, Winthrop took a 7-0 sweep victory. 
 
ALL-CONFERENCE AWARDS
Player of the Year: Lauren Proctor
Coach of the Year: Cid Carvalho
First Team All-Conference Singles: Lauren Proctor, Alisa Soloveva
First Team All-Conference Doubles: Lauren Proctor/Megan Kauffman, Alisa Soloveva/Tayla Van Eck
Second Team All-Conference Singles: Megan Kauffman
All-Academic Team:  Megan Kauffman

HISTORIC NATIONAL RANKING
Winthrop women's tennis doubles pair Megan Kauffman and Lauren Proctor are in the national rankings at No. 29 in the latest Oracle/ITA Division I Women's National Doubles Rankings, a jump from their previous ranking at No. 60. The duo is undefeated at 19-0 on the season at the court one doubles position, the best record in the Big South Conference.
 
Proctor is ranked No. 32 in the Oracle/ITA Division I Women's National Singles Rankings, a slight drop from her previous ranking of No. 31. Proctor reached a season-high ranking of No. 14. She is currently the only female singles student-athlete nationally ranked from the Big South Conference.  Proctor had a history-making fall season, winning the ITA Carolinas Regional title for the first time in program history.
 
UP NEXT
The winner of the match will advance to the Big South Championship semifinals on Fri., Apr. 20 at 10 a.m.  
 
2018 BIG SOUTH WOMEN'S TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIP SCHEDULE
 
Wednesday, April 18 – First Round
Match 1:  No. 8 Gardner-Webb vs. No. 9 Longwood, 10:00am – Longwood, 4-3
 
Thursday, April 19 – Quarterfinals
Match 2:  No. 1 Winthrop vs. No. 8/9 winner, 9:00am
Match 3:  No. 4 Charleston Southern vs. No. 5 Presbyterian College, 12:00pm
Match 4:  No. 2 Liberty vs. No. 7 UNC Asheville, 3:00pm
Match 5:  No. 3 Campbell vs. No. 6 Radford, 6:00pm
 
Friday, April 20 – Semifinals
Match 6:  Match 2 winner vs. Match 3 winner, 10:00am
Match 7:  Match 4 winner vs. Match 5 winner, 2:00pm
 
Saturday, April 21 – Championship
Match 8:  Match 6 winner vs. Match 7 winner, 10:00am