Women's Tennis

Courtesy of Kirk Reed CACC, assistant commissioner

HOLY FAMILY PREDICTED TO WIN CACC WOMEN'S TENNIS REGULAR-SEASON CROWN

August 23, 2007

NEW HAVEN, CT - Defending regular-season and tournament champion, Holy Family University, garnered seven first-place votes to top the 2007 Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) Women's Tennis pre-season poll. The poll was conducted by the conference's eight head coaches. Philadelphia University collected one first-place vote and finished second in the poll.

Georgian Court University was picked third in the poll with 48 points and is followed by USP (41 points), Caldwell College (28), Chestnut Hill College (21), Goldey-Beacom College (19) and Post University (12). Chestnut Hill will be competing in the CACC for the first time and will play a full conference schedule, but will not be eligible for the team conference tournament. However, the CHC players will be eligible to participate in the CACC individual tournament. The Griffins were previously a member of NCAA Division III.

Holy Family, which is under the direction of first-year head coach Brett Shavitz, picked up 63 total points along with seven first-place nods. The Tigers advanced to the NCAA Tournament last season after winning the CACC Team Championship over Philadelphia, 6-1. The Tigers compiled a 6-0 conference record and finished 14-2 overall. Holy Family will be returning their top six singles players, including 2006 CACC Rookie of the Year, Rupali Parekh. Also returning for Holy Family is senior Lauren Neill. Neill and Parekh teamed to win the 2006 CACC Doubles Championship.

Philadelphia finished with 56 points and one first-place vote after going 5-1 in conference play and 11-6 overall last year. Returning to lead the Lady Rams will be All-CACC performer, Maddie Smith. The senior advanced to the championship match of the CACC Individual Tournament last season before retiring due to an injury. She was 24-5 as a singles player last season.

The complete 2007 CACC Women's Tennis Preseason Poll is below. 2007 CACC Women's Tennis Preseason Coaches' Poll

School 2006 Records Points

1. Holy Family (7) 14-2/6-0 CACC - 63

2. Philadelphia (1) 11-6/5-1 - 56

3. Georgian Court 5-6/4-2 - 48

4. USP 4-6/3-3 - 41

5. Caldwell 6-7/2-4 - 28

6. Chestnut Hill* 3-10/2-5 - 21

7. Goldey-Beacom 1-10/1-5 - 19

8. Post 0-6/0-6 - 12

()-First Place Votes

* - Record as a DIII member of the NEAC