NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – For the eighth straight year, the VCU Rams have been chosen as the top seed in the 2021 Atlantic 10 Conference Women’s Tennis Championship, the league announced Tuesday. The championship begins Wednesday, April 28 at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Fla.
The Rams (11-9), who have won six of the last seven A-10 Championships, are the top seed and earn a first-round bye. VCU is led by the 2019 Most Outstanding Performer, senior No. 91 Paola Exposito Diaz-Delgado with 14 wins in dual play, followed by graduate student Noumea Witmus, who posted 12 singles victories. The pair is ranked No. 83 in the ITA's doubles rankings. The Rams will face the winner of the No. 8 Duquesne/No. 9 Dayton matchup on Thursday at 3:00 pm.
Rhode Island (8-1) claimed the number two seed and will also receive a bye, before facing the winner of the No. 7 Saint Louis/No. 10 St. Bonaventure on Thursday at 3:30 pm. The Rams, after dropping their first contest of the year, rattled off eight straight victories, including two against A-10 foes Saint Joseph's and Fordham. Rhode Island is led by sophomore Nadia Rajan, who went 6-3 at No. 1 singles, and redshirt senior Tiara Higuchi, who posted an 8-1 record at No. 4 singles. In doubles play, redshirt senior Rachel Smilansky and junior Sydney Chratian are 6-0, mostly from flight two.
Richmond (7-4) earned the three seed and a first-round bye, and enters the Championship on a three-match winning streak. In those three matches, the Spiders only lost one point and won all three doubles points. UR is led by graduate-student Dessi Zlateva, who holds a 10-1 record, including 9-1 at No. 2 singles, and has won nine matches in a row without dropping one set. Zlateva and senior Emily Dunbar are 7-4 at No. 1 doubles. The Spiders will face the winner of Davidson/George Mason on Thursday at 6:30 pm.
Wednesday’s first-round action opens at 9:00 am with No. 4 George Washington (8-5) taking on No. 13 La Salle (0-12) and No. 5 Fordham (5-4) facing No. 12 Saint Joseph's (7-11) at 9:30 am. The winners of these two matches face off in Thursday’s 6:00 pm quarterfinal match.
In the second session of the day, No. 8 Duquesne (6-5) will square off against No. 9 Dayton (5-13) at noon. The winner of the Duquesne/Dayton matchup earns a spot in Thursday’s 3:00 pm quarterfinal match against top-seeded VCU.
Wednesday’s final session will feature No. 6 Davidson (5-14) against No. 11 George Mason (7-3) at 3:00 pm, with the winner getting a match against No. 3 Richmond. Then, No. 7 Saint Louis (6-6) will take on No. 10 St. Bonaventure (5-7), beginning at 3:30 pm. The winners of Saint Louis/St. Bonaventure will take on No. 2 Rhode Island.
The semifinals will be played Friday at 3:00 pm and 3:30 pm, and the championship finale is Saturday at 3:00 pm and will be broadcast on ESPN+, the home for live Atlantic 10 action. Admission will be free for the A-10 Championships and is limited to 400 spectators at one time.
The winner of the 2021 Atlantic 10 Women’s Tennis Championship receives an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. Saturday's championship final will be streamed in conjunction with the USTA on ESPN+, and will also be available for international viewers, here. All other rounds will be streamed through the USTA website's Playsight system, which allows viewers to select the court they wish to watch.