Winthrop women’s tennis earns top seed in Big South Championship
Winthrop has clinched the No. 1 seed in next week's Big South Conference Women's Tennis Championship by virtue of a three-way tiebreaker with Charleston Southern and Liberty, it was announced Saturday night following the conclusion of the conference regular season.
Coach Cid Carvalho's Eagles will be looking to capture the program's 19th Big South title in the past 24 years when they begin play at the Wake Forest Tennis Center in Winston-Salem, N.C. 9 a.m. Friday against the winner between No. 8 Longwood and No. 9 Radford. The semifinals are set for Saturday and the championship match will be held noon Sunday.
The Eagles shared the 2017 regular-season championship with Charleston Southern and Liberty as all three teams finished 7-1 in conference action. Winthrop was awarded the top seed by virtue of the third step of the league's tiebreaker. The first two steps of the tiebreaker (conference won-loss record and head-to-head competition) did not create an advantage as all three teams went 1-1 against each other.
The third step —aggregate match record against teams tied for first-place — broke the tie as Winthrop was an aggregate 8-6 vs. CSU and LU, compared to 7-7 for Charleston Southern (No. 2 seed) and 6-8 for Liberty (No. 3 seed).
Gardner-Webb takes the No. 4 seed with its 5-3 Big South record, followed by UNC Asheville at No. 5 (4-4). Campbell earned the No. 6 seed after finishing 3-5 in the league this year, while Presbyterian College received the No. 7 seed with its 2-6 Big South record. Longwood captured the No. 8 seed at 1-7, and Radford rounded out the seedings at No. 9 after going winless in league action.
The Big South's Tournament champion receives an automatic bid to the NCAA Women's Tennis Championship.
Eagles men’s tennis seeding 5th in Big South championship
The Winthrop men’s tennis team is the No. 5 seed in this week’s Big South Conference Championship and will face No. 4 Longwood in the quarterfinals noon Wednesday at the Wake Forest Tennis Center in Winston-Salem, N.C.
Winthrop and Longwood tied in the Big South standings with 4-3 conference records, but the Eagles lost the tiebreaker after losing their regular season match to the Lancers. The semifinals are set for Thursday at noon while the championship match will be played 4 p.m. Friday. The Big South’s Tournament champion receives an automatic bid to the NCAA Men’s Tennis Championship.
Presbyterian College has earned the No. 1 seed. The Blue Hose finished the 2017 regular-season with a 6-1 Big South record to win their first regular-season title since 2014.
Gardner-Webb and tied for second in the conference at 5-2, and the Runnin’ Bulldogs garnered the No. 2 seed due to their head-to-head win over the Camels. Radford claimed the No. 6 seed at 3-4 in league play, followed by UNC Asheville at No. 7 (1-6 record). Liberty rounds out the seedings at No. 8 following its 0-7 finish.
Winthrop lacrosse dominates Longwood 21-7 for third straight Big South victory
The Winthrop lacrosse team dominated the Longwood Lancers 21-7 Saturday afternoon for their third straight conference victory.
The Eagles improved to 3-2 in the Big South and 6-9 overall with the victory while the Lancers fell to 5-10 overall and 1-3 in the conference.
Winthrop never trailed in the contest, jumping out to a 4-1 lead and extending its lead to as much as seven in the multiple times in the first half. The Eagles took an 11-4
To begin the second half the Eagles scored five of the first six goals to increase their lead to 16-5 with just under 20 minutes to play. Winthrop allowed Longwood only two more goals over the final 20 minutes en route to the 21-7 victory.
Nicole Beatson and Kristen Shriver each tallied seven points on four goals and three assists while Katie Clark, Katherine Judge and Ellie Marindin each scored four goals. Judge and Beatson tied for the team lead with six draw controls and Shriver had a team-lead of four ground balls. Chloe Wormsley finished with five saves in goal.
Winthrop won the ground ball and draw control battles 20-19 and 18-12 respectively. The Eagles also outshot the Lancers 32-18 and were perfect on kills 15-for-15.
The Eagles will round out the regular season at home next week, starting with a 6 p.m. contest on Wednesday against the Gardner-Webb Bulldogs.
Winthrop track team wins 3 events at Charlotte Invitational
The Winthrop men’s and women’s track teams combined to capture three events and post two third place finishes at this weekend at the Charlotte Invitational held at the Belk Track and Field Center.
Freshman distance runner Olivia Paxton (Rock Hill) won the 5,000 meter run with a time of 17:51.41. Senior hurdler Alesha Love (Columbia) won the 400 meter hurdles with a time 60.45 seconds and finished third in the 100 meter hurdles with a clocking of 14.20 seconds. Junior thrower Christine Agoris (Reisterstown, MD) finished third in the javelin with a toss of 116 feet-8 inches.
On the men’s side, junior Quemell Brave (Georgetown, S.C.) continued his winning ways by capturing first place in the long jump with a leap of 24 feet-4.25 inches.
Winthrop will return to action next weekend when it travels to Durham for the Duke Invitational on Friday and Saturday.
This story was originally published April 16, 2017 at 5:21 PM with the headline "Winthrop women’s tennis earns top seed in Big South Championship."