The America East Championships have not even started, but the No. 74 Boston University women’s tennis team has already earned a spot in the semi-finals tomorrow afternoon.
BU earned the top seed and a first-round bye in the championships after posting an 11-5 record this spring, and the women are seeking the program’s 14th consecutive conference title.
The championships kick off today at the Connecticut Tennis Center in New Haven, Conn., as fourth-seeded Stony Brook University battles the fifth-seeded University at Albany. The winner earns a date with the Terriers, who have won 17 of the 18 America East titles.
No. 2 Binghamton University, coming off a 14-2 regular season, also received a first-round bye before facing the winner of No. 3 University of Maryland-Baltimore County and No. 6 University of Hartford.
The Terriers and Bearcats have met in the final round in each of the past two years, and the odds favor another battle of the BUs to determine this season’s champion. The “other BU” features two players with the most wins in school history, seniors Zeynep Altinay and Lya Kushnirovich. The Terriers have last year’s America East Player of the Year, senior Erin Katims, although her record in singles play sits at just 8-8 after a 13-win season last spring.
The Terriers’ forté all spring has been their three, four and five spots, which coach Lesley Sheehan called “almost unbeatable this year,” after sweeping Quinnipiac University in the season finale on April 14. Freshmen Rebecca Row and Francine Whu and sophomore Cori Lefkowith went a combined 33-10 during the regular season.
Sheehan seems to have found stability in the doubles pairings, as BU has won four of the last five doubles points, including their last three. The first team of Katims and Whu has not lost a match in each of the past three contests, and in those contests the Terriers have dropped only two doubles matches overall.
BU has played only one match against a conference opponent this spring — a 7-0 sweep of UMBC — but it was the only nationally-ranked team from the America East. The rest of BU’s matches have been against more seasoned and stronger opponents than they would otherwise face in their conference. Even against those stronger teams, BU handled everything their opponents served up.
After returning from the trip to Florida, first-year assistant coach Jeroen Joling was quite impressed with the team.
“We played three tough teams, we played in tough conditions and the overall positive attitude and the work ethic was definitely something to be proud of,” Joling said. “I think all three coaches of our opponents would say, ‘Wow, that BU team, those girls, they didn’t give up. They kept fighting. They showed a professional attitude.’ And I think that’s something to be proud of as a team.”
With a win, the Terriers advance to the finals Sunday morning. By mid-afternoon, they could be celebrating their 14th consecutive title and a trip to the NCAA championships. And that would certainly be something to be proud of.