Davidson College Athletics
vs. St. Bonaventure (First Round)
A-10 W. Tennis Tournament Seeds Set, 'Cats Earn No. 3
4/24/2018 11:01:00 AM | Women's Tennis
Gavin McFarlin - Associate SID
2018 Statistics
A-10 Women's Tennis Championship Central (bracket, live stats, results, photo gallery)
DavidsonPhotos.com
DAVIDSON, N.C. — The Davidson women's tennis team, coming off its third straight 15 or more win season, will look to carry that momentum into the Atlantic 10 Women's Tennis Championship starting Wednesday, April 25, in Orlando, Fla., at the USTA National Campus.
The Wildcats, who went an impressive 15-4 during the regular season and 5-1 in league matches, earned the third overall seed out of 14 teams. They will be seeking the program's first-ever tournament title after just missing out several times in the Southern Conference. Davidson has reached the championship match once in its three trips to the A-10 Championship, making it in 2016 where it dropped a 4-2 decision to VCU.
The 'Cats earned their five league wins against George Mason, Saint Louis, UMass, Saint Joseph's and Duquesne.
Davidson will open tournament play vs. 14th-seeded St. Bonaventure (1-17, 0-4 A-10) on Wednesday, with match time set for 12 p.m. If the Wildcats advance, they would take on the winner of sixth-seeded UMass (10-6, 3-2 A-10) and 11th-seeded Saint Joseph's (5-15, 3-4 A-10), Friday at 3 p.m. in the quarterfinals.
All matches will have live stats and can be followed by clicking the link above on A-10 Women's Tennis Championship Central.
The All-Time Series/Last Meeting
This will be Davidson's second matchup against the Bonnies and second year in a row playing them in the tournament. It defeated SBU 4-0 before falling to Saint Louis in the quarterfinals last year.
It would be the Wildcats fourth meeting against the UMass Minutewomen, who they defeat 5-2 earlier this season or the fifth meeting vs. the Hawks of Saint Joseph's should the 'Cats advance. They also played SJU this season, taking a 6-1 decision at home to remain perfect in the all-time series at 4-0.
A-10 Tournament History
The Wildcats are making their fourth appearance in the A-10 Tournament. A Year ago they reached the quarterfinals with a win against St. Bonaventure in the first round, but the season ended there with a 4-2 setback to the Billikens of Saint Louis. Overall, Davidson has a record of 5-3 in the league tournament.
During their run in the SoCon, which started in 1993, the 'Cats had a 17-16 tournament record. In three of the last 10 league tournaments, they reached the finals, falling to Furman each time.
VCU earned the No. 1 seed for the sixth consecutive year and has won the tournament four of the past five seasons dating back to 2013. Last year, UMass claimed its first championship title since 2001 by downing the Rams 4-2 in the championship match.
Scouting the Wildcat Women- Quick Hits
• Davidson's 15 wins made it four years in a row with double-digit victories on the season. A year ago it had 15, while collecting 18 in 2016 and 12 in 2015.
• The Wildcats won 10 straight matches at one time during the season, the second-longest streak in the past three years.
• They finished the regular season winning three of their final five matches, with two of the wins coming against A-10 opponents (Saint Louis and George Mason)
• Davidson went an impressive 11-1 at home this year, winning its final eight straight matches.
• Head coach Susanne Depka is in her first season at the helm of the program after serving as the assistant coach the previous three years.
• The 'Cats as a team earned an outstanding 80 singles wins during the regular season, going 80-32 overall and 26-10 in A-10 matches.
• Four of the six singles players collected over 10 wins each on the season.
• The trio of Ava Todd (14-2), Gabrielle Centenari (career-best 14-3) and Alexandra Abele (14-3) each won 14 singles matches to pace the team.
• Todd finished the regular season with a 6-0 record in A-10 matches and finished her career undefeated at 23-0.
• The senior is currently riding a season-high eight-match win streak entering the championship, the third-longest in her career after a 16-match streak in 2015 and an 11-match streak in 2017.
• Todd has 62 career singles wins to just 16 defeats and the total wins is the most for a Wildcats dating back to 2000.
• Sophomore Alexandra Abele, an A-10 All-Second Team pick last year, has won a combined 30 singles matches in her two years.
• A two-time A-10 Player of the Week, Abele rattled off a personal-best 11-match win streak during the season.
• Centenari had a breakout junior season, running off an 11-match win streak of her own on her way to a personal-best 14 singles wins.
• Four-time A-10 Rookie of the Week pick Lindsay Song was one of the top freshmen in the league, sporting a 13-2 record and 5-1 in league matches.
• The freshman was the third 'Cats to have a double-digit win streak on the season, winning the first 11 consecutive matches to start her collegiate career.
• Davidson was solid in doubles this year as well, collecting 33 doubles wins throughout the regular season.
• Ally Sexton and Song paced the team with a 10-5 record, getting five wins each at No. 2 and 3 position.
• The Wildcats used 12 different doubles combinations on the season.
• Senior Anna Catharine Feaster and junior Megan Scholvinck went 7-1 together at No. 1 doubles, including 4-1 against A-10 foes.
Players Mentioned
