Bearkats No. 6 Seed At Southland April 26
4/15/2013 2:54:00 PM | Women's Tennis
The Sam Houston women's tennis team will be the No. 6 seed and will face No. 3 seed and tournament host Lamar in the first round of the Southland Conference tournament Friday April 26 in Beaumont.
The Bearkats will be making their ninth consecutive appearance in the post-season event. Sam Houston reached the semifinals in 2005, 2006 and last season in 2012.
Sam Houston finished the regular season with a three-game winning streak to post a 4-5 mark in Southland play. The Bearkats were 8-11 for the year.
Four of the Bearkats' five conference losses were by 4-3 margins.
“The team is excited about returning to the Southland tournament again,” Sam Houston head coach Jim Giachino said. “Knowing how close so many of our matches were this season, they know anything can happen at the tournament.”
As the No. 7 seed in last year's Southland event, the Bearkats knocked off No. 2 Texas State 4-3 in the first round before falling to Texas-Arlington 4-0 in the semifinals.
Lamar will be a challenging opponent for the Kats. The Cardinals own a 25-8 advantage in the all-time women's tennis dual match series with the Bearkats. Lamar has won the last eight meetings between the two teams since Sam Houston's last win over the Cards in 2007.
Other first round matchups in Beaumont April 26 will see No. 1 seed Southeastern Louisiana face No. 8 Central Arkansas, No. 2 A&M-Corpus Christi plays No. 7 McNeese State and No. 4 Northwestern State battles No. 5 Stephen F. Austin.
Times for the matches will be released later this week.
Sam Houston's Maddie Mortimore went 9-0 at the number five position during the Southland season. Three Bearkats – Sheridan Currie, Tanya Postnikova and Natalie Petaia – all went 6-3 during the league regular season.
