Top-seeded Lady Paladins in Search of Fourth Consecutive SoCon Tournament Title

April 17, 2007

2007 SoCon Women's Tennis Bracket
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Greenville, S.C. - After posting its eighth consecutive undefeated conference regular-season record, the top-seeded Furman women's tennis team heads to the 2007 Southern Conference Women's Tennis Tournament in search of a fourth straight automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The Lady Paladins (13-9, 9-0) will play their first match in the quarterfinal round on Friday, April 20 at 8:30 a.m., at the Earle Tennis Center on The Citadel campus. Furman will face the winner of No. 8 Appalachian State and No. 9 Chattanooga, a match that will be played on Thursday, April 19 at noon.

Hail to the Victors
With a 7-0 win over Davidson last Saturday afternoon, Furman won the SoCon regular-season crown for the ninth consecutive year. Overall, Furman has won an unprecedented 15 SoCon titles. The Lady Paladins have owned the league this decade, extending their league winning streak to 79 straight matches. Furman's last regular-season loss to a SoCon foe was a 5-4 defeat to UNC Greensboro on March 27, 1999.

Sensational Seniors
Bonnie Baird, Lisa Bornt-Davis and Jacqueline Eckert will play in their final SoCon tournament this weekend. The three make up a class that has never lost a match to a league opponent during its entire career. Not only have these three gone undefeated in the regular season, they have yet to suffer a loss in the conference tournament and have made three straight appearances in the NCAA Tournament. Baird is the reigning SoCon Tournament MVP, after clinching Furman's 2006 title with a singles win over Davidson's Meredith Skeeters.

Tournament Tidbits
The Southern Conference Tournament might just as well be renamed in honor of the Furman Lady Paladins. Furman has won 14 titles with the next closest team Chattanooga with five. The Lady Paladins have won the last three crowns and eight of the last nine. Furman has defeated the Davidson Wildcats in each of the last two championship matches. Interestingly enough, Furman's last loss in the tournament came at the hands of the Wildcats. Davidson defeated Furman, 4-1, in the semifinals of the 2003 competition.

Versus the Mountaineers or the Mocs
Furman will face either the Appalachian State Mountaineers or the Chattanooga Mocs in its first match at the tournament. Furman posted a 4-0 win in a rain-shortened match at Appalachian State, and beat UTC 6-1 in the earlier meeting of the year. The Lady Paladins hold a 34-2 all-time record against ASU and haven't lost to the Mountaineers in the Debbie Southern era. Furman faced Appalachian last year in the postseason, defeating the Mountaineers 4-0 in the semifinals. Against Chattanooga, Furman is 24-8 overall. The Mocs last win over the Lady Paladins was a 4-3 victory on April 5, 1997. Furman faced the Mocs in the quarterfinals of last year's competition and earned a 4-0 victory.

Undefeated
Five of Furman's six singles players went undefeated in league action this year. Bonnie Baird, Jacqueline Eckert and Laura Gioia all posted 9-0 conference records. Natasa Manojlovic went 8-0 and Lauren Osborne was 6-0. Osborne has never lost a SoCon singles match, with a career tally of 24-0. Baird dropped only one conference bout in her career, posting a 31-1 singles mark. Three of Furman's doubles combinations also went unbeaten in SoCon play. Gioia and Manojlovic put together a 9-0 mark at number one, Eckert and Osborne were 8-0 at number two and Lisa Bornt-Davis and Lauren Tomory were 7-0 at number three.

Jumping for Gioia
Sophomore Laura Gioia has been honored numerous times this year for her efforts on and off the court. The SoCon named her Player of the Week three times. Gioia has also been honored as TIAA-CREF Student-Athlete of the Week on two occasions. Despite always playing the opponent's top player, Gioia has the most wins on the team with a 19-3 mark in singles. She is also 16-6 in doubles. Gioia is currently ranked 123 in the FILA Collegiate Tennis Rankings.

Double Trouble
The Lady Paladin doubles pairs have been trouble for opponents as of late. Furman has won nine of its last ten doubles points and has yet to lose a doubles point to a conference opponent this season. The only team the Lady Paladins lost the doubles point to in the last ten matches was No. 4 Georgia Tech.