University of Connecticut Athletics
University of Connecticut
St. John's University
UConn Seeded 5th for BIG EAST Tournament; Huskies Will Face St. John’s on Friday
4/19/2021 8:45:00 PM | Women's Tennis
STORRS, Conn. – The UConn women's tennis team will be the No. 5 seed in this week's BIG EAST Tennis Championships Presented by JEEP. The Huskies will face the No. 4 seed St. John's in a quarterfinal match-up on Friday, April 23 and scheduled to start at 1 pm.
This year's tournament returns to the Cayce Tennis & Fitness Center in Cayce, S.C., from April 22-25.
"Our team is very much looking forward to our first Big East Tennis Championships," commented Director of Tennis Glenn Marshall. "We have had a nice spring season, and the team is excited to play some new conference teams in the tournament. We have been fortunate to have a spring season amidst all of the many challenges, and we are looking forward to our match up with St. John's on Friday."
The Huskies played 12 matches this spring and finished with an 8-4 record. Against BIG EAST teams, UConn posted a 5-2 win over Seton Hall, a 7-0 win over Providence and lost a tight 4-3 decision to Villanova, both at home. The Huskies were scheduled to meet St. John's back in March but the match was canceled due to covid protocols.
One of the strengths of this year's UConn squad has been their doubles play all spring as the Huskies enter the postseason having won the doubles point in 11-straight matches. As a team, UConn played to a 29-7 (.806) doubles record this year and have been led by the No. 1 tandem of junior Julieanne Bou (Bayamon, Puerto Rico) and freshman Leonie Hoppe (Munich, Germany) who are unbeaten at 11-0. Equally impressive has been the sophomore-freshman team of Caroline Cook (Naples, Fla.) and Aleksandra Karamyshev (Ashton, Md.) who are 10-2 overall and riding a 10-match winning streak into the tournament.
Bou has been at the top of the Huskies' singles lineup all spring and posted a 7-4 record. Karamyshev is riding a five-match winning streak into the post season, going 6-3 while playing in the No 5 and No. 6 spots.
Sophomore Doga Selen Takunyaci (Istanbul, Turkey) won a team-best eight matches and has won her last three-straight heading into the tournament. She is 8-3 on the season and has played the majority of the season in the No. 5 spot. Cook, Hoppe and sophomore Denise Lai (Setauket, N.Y.) all have six singles wins this spring.
On the women's side, Xavier will be the No. 1 seed in the field. DePaul is the No. 2 seed and Villanova is the No. 3 seed. The top-three seeds will await the results of Thursday's first round match-ups as No. 8 Marquette faces No. 9 Georgetown, No. 7 Butler plays No. 10 Seton Hall and No. 6 Creighton takes on No. 11 Providence.
Seeds are determined by the conference's tennis championship and coaches' seeding advisory committees that review each team's regular-season schedule, ITA rankings, results against BIG EAST and common non-conference opponents and wins/losses against ranked foes.
The women's and men's championship matches will be streamed live via the BIG EAST Digital Network Presented by SoFi. All Championship information will be available here.
Times are subject to change based on weather. The raindate is scheduled for Monday, April 26 should any of the matches get postponed.
Players Mentioned
