The University of Tampa Women’s tennis team will head to Boca Raton this week to begin the Sunshine State Conference Tournament. The No. 14 ranked Spartans drew the six seed in the SSC and will face off against No. 8 Lynn University who drew the three seed on Thursday.
The team suffered one of their only five losses on the season in their previous meeting losing, 7-2 at Lynn back on February 23. The only winners for UT on that day were freshman Lindsay Nochowicz and team captain, junior Lauren Hewett, both in singles.
Ultimately, the season has been a roaring success for the team though. The Spartans finished with a 14-5 record (3-5 in the SSC) which included a perfect (8-0) month of March.
However, the team has lost two of their last three including a 0-9 loss to No. 2 ranked Barry to end the regular season. But the loss has had little effect on the team’s winning mentality.
“The loss [to Barry] doesn’t matter,” said Nochowicz. “We know who we can beat.”
Sophomore Chloe Pereira remained optimistic as well.
“We really just used the Barry match to prepare us for the conference tournament,” she said.
Barry clinched the first seed in the tournament matching up against the eight seed Nova Southeastern.
The format of the tournament is different than most one-and-done tournaments with each team having a chance to compete on the day of the finals for a ranking of one through eight in the conference.
The winners of the first round on Thursday will face each other in the semifinals on Friday and will compete for the 1-4 seeds. The losers of the first round then face off on Friday as well and will compete for the 5-8 seeds.
Among the difficulties of tournament play are games on three consecutive days and the excruciating heat on the court. “It’s about 20 degrees hotter on the court,” said Head Coach Al DuFaux. “So if it’s 90 [degrees] it feels like 110.”
“We make sure to work real hard in the heat in the pre-tournament weeks,” he added.
Needless to say the team will be stressing hydration per usual, downing water and taking electrolyte and glucose tablets to prevent cramps. The stress of a match everyday for three consecutive days though heeds different preparation.
“I’m used to playing a match and not having anything for one or two days after,” said Nochowicz. “I’ve got to make sure I stretch a lot before and after games so I don’t tighten up.” As a freshman, she will be competing in her first SSC tournament.
Conversely, this will be Pereira’s final conference tournament with UT though she’s only a sophomore. She has been accepted into the University of Miami’s Master of Architecture program and will be attending “The U” in the fall.
“It’s sad, it’s only my second season and I don’t know if I’ll play at Miami,” said Pereira. “The architecture program will probably take up most of my time.”
The other SSC tournament matchups Thursday morning will be No. 2 Saint Leo University against No. 7 Florida Tech and No. 4 Rollins against No. 5 Florida Southern.
Of the eight teams competing in the SSC tournament, seven are ranked in the top eight in the Division II Southern Region including Tampa.
Drew Wycoff can be reached at dwycoff@spartans.ut.edu.