Issued: April 13, 2003

WOMEN'S TENNIS TO FACE ST. THOMAS IN NCAA REGIONAL

ST. PETER, Minn. - The UW-Eau Claire women's tennis team has received a bid to participate in the NCAA championship and will face St. Thomas on Saturday at 2:00 p.m. in a three team sub-regional hosted by Gustavus Adolphus College.

The Blugolds finished the 2002-03 season with an overall record of 30-6, including a mark of 15-3 in dual meets. Eau Claire won the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference with a perfect record of 6-0 in conference dual meets.

Eau Claire has been selected for national competition four times in its history, most recently in the 2000-01 season. The Blugolds best finish was 3rd in 1980-81.

Leading the Blugold effort is No. 1 singles player Alison Hover (Sr.-St. Cloud, MN/Tech) who comes into the regional with a record of 24-6 on the season. Playing in the No. 2 singles spot for the Blugolds will be Jennifer Stafford (Jr.-Cross Plains/Middleton) who has a 6-7 record in the spring in the No. 2 singles spot after posting a 10-1 record last fall in the No. 3 location.

The current No. 3 singles spot is anchored by Tara Anderson (So.-Litchfield, MN) who has posted a 17-8 record in 2002-03. Megan Tauer (Sr.-Stillwater, MN) holds down the No. 4 singles spot with an impressive season record of 17-7. The No. 5 position will be held by Katie Steffes (Fr.-St. Joseph, MN/Apollo) who has a record of 6-6 since taking over the No. 5 duties. Steffes went 7-1 last fall while competing in the No. 6 spot before moving up and leaving the position to Annie Krueger (Fr.-Reedsburg) who has gone 6-4 since taking over.

The No. 1 doubles spot is held by Hover and Stafford who have played just six matched together, accumulating a record of 2-4. Tauer and Molly Cadwell (Jr.-Fridley, MN) are in the No. 2 doubles position. The tandem has also only seen six matches this season together, winning four of the six. The third and final doubles spot will be played by Anderson and Lindsay Lee (So.-Eau Claire/Memorial) who are the only doubles team to have played together all season. The pair have totaled an impressive 13 wins and just five losses in 2002-03.

St. Thomas finished the season in second place in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference behind only regional host Gustavus. The Tommies had an overall record of 18-3 and also competed in last year's NCAA championship where they lost to Gustavus in the second round after posting a season record of 19-4 in dual meets.

The meeting between the Blugolds and Tommies will be the first of the season.