MEMPHIS, Tenn. – After an electric start to the 2013-2014 spring tennis season for the Rhodes College women's tennis team, conference play proved to be difficult for the Lynx as they fell in four of their seven conference matches.
With the regular season now completed, the women's tennis team faces a competitive opponent in the form of Millsaps College (last meeting: at Millsaps March 30 – 6-3 loss) in the first round of the Conference Tournament.
Defending conference champion and No. 16 Nationally Ranked University of the South finished the regular season undefeated in conference play and look to advance past Hendrix in the first round, setting up what would appear to be a rematch of the April 5 meeting between the two (Sewanee 9-0).
The Lynx will hope to play well enough against Millsaps to advance into the semi-finals of the conference tournament and setup an opportunity to avenge their previous losses to University of the South.
Rhodes looked strong in singles play against the Majors in their previous meeting, but were swept in the doubles.
"We've been working hard on our doubles play in anticipation for this matchup," said head coach Sarah Hatgas. "We know we can't lose all three doubles points like that again and expect to beat a quality team like Millsaps. They're well coached and well disciplined, but we think we've identified the area we need the most improvement in our doubles games and we'll be ready on day one."
Rhodes set to square off against Millsaps on Friday, April 25 at 12 p.m. The tournament format is double-elimination for the first round of play and a minimum of one extra match depending upon advancement into the main draw finals.
Teams eliminated after the first round of competition will compete for a spot in the fifth-six place match and winners will share the team points between the two teams. No playoff for third-fourth place will take place this year as the coaches decided that in the event of inclement weather, the fewer matches that need indoor court space would facilitate the final matches being played without interruption or delay.
