NEW HAVEN, Conn. (Oct. 15, 2010) – Concordia College will be looking to repeat as Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) Women’s Tennis Tournament Champion when the 2010 tournament gets underway Tuesday, Oct. 19. The Clippers went 8-0 in conference play this season and will host Chestnut Hill College Tuesday at 3:00 pm. No. 2 Goldey-Beacom College and third seeded Holy Family University will meet in the other semi-final match. Concordia defeated Goldey-Beacom, 5-3, in last season’s championship.

Concordia enters postseason play with a 9-0 overall mark after going undefeated in conference play for the second straight season. Leading the Clippers will be senior Ola Roberts, who was last year’s CACC Rookie of the Year and a first team All-Conference selection. She is undefeated in both singles and doubles this year. Sophomore Yuliya Plevako, who was named CACC Player of the Week once this season, is also undefeated this season, teaming with Roberts for a 5-0 record at No. 1 doubles. Plevako was a second team All-CACC pick last year. As a team, Concordia is 40-2 in conference singles matches and a perfect 21-0 in doubles. The Clippers defeated Chestnut Hill, 8-1 earlier this season.

Now in its fourth season as a NCAA Division II program, Chestnut Hill earned its first appearance in CACC postseason play by going 5-3 in conference action and 8-5 overall. In their first seasons with the Griffins, sophomore Nastia Shcherbakova and freshman Kelly Dennis led the squad with a combined singles record of 22-4. Sophomore Maria Parapouras was equally impressive in her first season, finishing undefeated at number three singles (12-0.) The Griffins clinched postseason play with a tough 5-4 win over Georgian Court University on Wednesday, October 13.

Goldey-Beacom will host Holy Family in the opening round for the second straight season. Last year, the Lightning won a thrilling semi-final match, 5-4, over the Tigers. The Lightning went 7-1 in conference play this season and is 10-1 overall. The team’s only loss was to Concordia. This season, the strength of GBC has been its team depth and doubles play. Only twice this season have the Lightning been unable to capture two of the three doubles points (Philadelphia and Concordia). GBC, which has won the last three meetings against Holy Family, defeated the Tigers, 6-3, on the road on Sept. 22. Since 2009, GBC is 13-2 in conference play, with both losses coming to Concordia. Meanwhile, Holy Family is 12-4, with two losses to GBC and two losses to Concordia.  

Holy Family will be led by sophomores Juliana Victoria and Jin Querubin. Victoria is 8-3 in singles play, while Querubin sports an 8-2 mark thus far in 2010. Victoria was a first team All-CACC pick last season, while Querubin claimed second team status. The duo has combined for a 9-2 mark at No. 1 doubles this year. Holy Family is 9-2 overall and went 6-2 in conference play. The Tigers have qualified for the CACC Tournament each year since its inception in 2005, and won titles in 2006 and 2007.

The championship match will be held at Chestnut Hill on Saturday, October 23, at 1:00 pm. The full tournament schedule is below.

2010 CACC Tennis Championships
Semi-Finals - Tuesday, Oct. 19
#4 Chestnut Hill at #1 Concordia – 3:00 pm
#3 Holy Family at #2 Goldey-Beacom – 3:00 pm

Saturday, Oct. 23 (at Chestnut Hill College)
Championship Match
1:00 pm