NEWPORT NEWS, Va. - For the ninth straight year, the VCU Rams have been chosen as the top seed in the 2022 Atlantic 10 Conference Women’s Tennis Championship, the league announced Tuesday. The championship begins Wednesday, April 27 at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Fla.
The Rams (15-6), who have won seven of the last eight A-10 Championships, are the top seed and earn a first-round bye. VCU is led by two-time Most Outstanding Performer ('19, '21), graduate student Paola Exposito Diaz-Delgado, who climbed as high as No. 62 in the ITA Singles ranking. VCU got off to a hot start this spring, collecting 10 straight victories and earning a No. 50 ITA team ranking, before falling to No. 26 Iowa State. Also ranking as high as No. 48 is the doubles pair of Diaz-Delgado and Laura Garcia Astudillo. The Rams will face the winner of the No. 8 Richmond/No. 9 Duquesne matchup on Thursday at 11:30 am.
Massachusetts (15-4) claimed the number two seed and will also receive a bye, before facing the winner of the No. 7 George Washington/No. 10 Rhode Island on Thursday at 5:30 pm. The Minutewomen have lost just once since mid-March, a tight 4-3 match against No. 71 Harvard, and are led by freshman Renata Farima who is 13-3 overall in singles play. Together, Farima and partner Anna Napidy boast an impressive 9-2 record, playing mostly from the No. 2 position.
Fordham (12-4) earned the three seed and a first-round bye, and enters the Championship on a four-match winning streak. Fordham returns All-Conference selection Nicole Li, who is 11-4 in singles matches this spring, along with Valeriya Deminova, who has not dropped a singles match to date. The Rams will face the winner of No. 6 Saint Louis and No. 11 George Mason on Thursday at 5:30 pm.
Wednesday’s first-round action opens at 9:00 am with No. 4 Davidson (11-7) taking on No. 13 St. Bonaventure (5-14) and No. 5 Dayton (9-12) facing No. 12 Saint Joseph's (6-14). The winners of these two matches face off in Thursday’s 11:30 am quarterfinal match.
In the second session of the day, No. 8 Richmond (7-10) will square off against No. 9 Duquesne (11-9) at 11:30 am and earns a spot in Thursday’s quarterfinal match against top-seeded VCU. Also playing in the 11:30 am timeslot is No. 7 George Washington (9-9) and No. 10 Rhode Island (9-13) for a chance against the second-seeded Minutewomen.
Wednesday’s final session will feature No. 6 Saint Louis (12-7) against No. 11 George Mason (13-7) at 2:00 pm, with the winner getting a match against No. 3 Fordham.
The semifinals will be played Friday at 5:30 pm, with the championship finale on Saturday at 5:30 pm, broadcast live on ESPN+, the home for live Atlantic 10 action. Admission will be free for the A-10 Championships.
The winner of the 2022 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.