Women's Tennis Open C-USA Championships Against Charlotte
4/18/2018 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
NORFOLK, Va. - The 2018 Conference USA Women's Tennis Championship begins tomorrow, April 19, on the campus of Old Dominion and No. 8 seed Southern Miss faces No. 9 seed Charlotte at 9 a.m. The four-day event will open with six first-round matches on Thursday starting at 9 a.m. ET. No. 1 seed FIU and No. 2 seed Rice will open the championship with first-round byes.
Rice, which is looking for its sixth consecutive C-USA Women's Tennis Championship, will await the winner of (7) WKU and (10) Louisiana Tech in the quarterfinals. FIU, which has gone a perfect 6-0 in conference play, will face the winner of (8) Southern Miss and (9) Charlotte. The Panthers and Owls both appeared in the latest Oracle/ITA Division I rankings with FIU coming in at 37 and Rice at 43.
The Golden Eagles are 1-0 against Conference opponents this season after defeating UAB 5-2 at home in early March. Thursday's match is the third-straight time the Golden Eagles face off against the 49ers at the C-USA Championships. The 49ers hold the slight edge against Southern Miss with a 4-3 overall record.
While Elena Roca puts her 18-0 singles record on the line, her and Lara Isis De Oliveira pace the Golden Eagles with an 8-0 doubles record at No. 2. Oliveira posts a seven-match singles win streak heading into her first Conference tournament.
The C-USA Semifinals and Championship match will take place on Sunday at 10 a.m. ET, streaming live on CUSA .tv.
Friday's possible opponent, FIU, sits at No. 37 in the nation and senior Andrea Lazaro is currently No. 6 in singles play according to the International Tennis Association. Schedule (All Times Central) First Round - Thursday, April 19 Match 1: (8) Southern Miss vs. (9) Charlotte - 9 a.m. - Live Stats Match 2: (7) WKU vs. (10) Louisiana Tech - 9 a.m. - Live Stats Match 3: (4) Florida Atlantic vs. (13) Marshall - 12 p.m. - Live Stats Match 4: (3) Old Dominion vs. (14) UTEP - 12 p.m. - Live Stats Match 5: (5) Middle Tenssess vs. (13) UTSA - 3 p.m. - Live Stats Match 6: (6) North Texas vs. (11) UAB - 3 p.m. - Live Stats
Quarterfinals - Friday, April 20 Match 7: Match 1 winner vs. (1) FIU - 10 a.m. Match 8: Match 2 winner vs. (2) Rice - 10 a.m. Match 9: Match 3 winner vs. Match 5 winner - 2 p.m. Match 10: Match 4 winner vs. Match 6 winner -- 2 p.m.
Semifinals - Saturday, April 21 Match 11: Match 7 winner vs. Match 9 winner - 12 p.m. CUSA.tv Match 12: Match 8 winner vs. Match 10 winner - 12 p.m. CUSA.tv
Championship - Sunday, April 22 Match 13: Match 11 winner vs. Match 12 winner - 10 a.m. - CUSA.tv
All Times Eastern