Women’s Tennis Heads to the NCAA Tournament an Eighth Time

Will Face Concordia (NY) in the First Round

Women's Tennis | 5/7/2019 12:00:00 AM

Tweet #GBCLightning

Goldey-Beacom has received an at-large bid for an eighth trip to the NCAA Tournament and will face Concordia (NY) in the first round next Monday in Easton, MA.

The match between the third-seeded Lightning and sixth-seeded Clippers, both members of the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference, will begin at noon. The winner advances to the second round to battle second-seeded Stonehill on Tuesday at noon. The survivor of that match will head to Altamonte Springs, FL for the "Sweet 16," which begins May 22.

Goldey-Beacom (14-4, 7-1 CACC) once again this season made its presence felt, capturing at least a share of the CACC regular-season crown for a third straight year. The Lightning also have won 24 of their last 25 regular-season league matches and have made the conference semifinals in the last 11 CACC Tournaments.

A major reason for Goldey-Beacom's high ranking occurred April 2 when the squad recorded a huge 5-2 upset of New York Tech, then No. 35 in the nation and tops in the region. GBC also topped Wilmington (ranked fifth in the East) and the District of Columbia (ranked seventh in the East) in the regular season.

GBC is 6-2 in the spring with just one loss coming to Division II opposition.

Sophomores Lotte Lesscher y Post (Arnhem, Netherlands) and Catarina Zheng (Oporto, Portugal) have played a huge role in Goldey-Beacom's success the last two seasons. Presently, they are the 13th-ranked doubles tandem in the country after being ranked as high as sixth and are 19-4 on the season. The two advanced to the ITA East Region doubles final and, against New York Tech this month, notched a 6-3 upset over the 30th-ranked tandem in the nation.

Their 35 career doubles victories are the seventh-best total in school history.

Lesscher y Post made incredible noise during the fall in being picked the CACC Player of the Year, one year after she was tabbed second team and the conference tournament's Most Outstanding Player. She is 14-5 in singles this season that includes 13-4 in dual play at first singles.

Zheng also has been a dynamo, getting picked first team all-league for a second straight year after making the 2017 CACC All-Tournament Team. She has amassed a 16-4 singles mark, which includes 15-3 at second singles.

Andrea Fresneda (Valencia, Spain) owns a 15-4 record in singles, including 11-3 at sixth singles. Fellow freshman Kristin Radeke (Bremen, Germany) has the third-most doubles triumphs for the squad, owning an 11-4 that includes 10-3 at third doubles.

Goldey-Beacom has recorded two NCAA Tournament victories in its history. The first came in 2015, when the program defeated Chestnut Hill in becoming the first in school history to win a head-to-head NCAA Tournament event. That squad finished the season ranked 31st in the country.

Print Friendly Version