RICHMOND, Va. – William & Mary garnered the top seed in the Colonial Athletic Association Championship for the 19th time in the last 26 tournaments, the league announced on Monday. The defending champion Tribe will host the CAA Championship at the Mackesy Tennis Center at the Millie West Courts, April 20-23.
The Tribe opens tournament play at 9 a.m. on Friday, April 21, against the winner of Thursday's first-round match between No. 8 Hampton and No. 9 North Carolina A&T. Admission is free to all matches at the CAA Women's Tennis Championship. In the event of inclement weather, the McCormack-Nagelsen Tennis Center will be used as a back-up indoor site.
W&M enters the CAA Championship having won six of its last seven matches and at 12-5 overall on the year. The Green and Gold earned the top seed by virtue of its 5-0 record in league action this year that included victories over No. 2 seed Delaware, No. 4 Elon, No. 6 UNCW, No. 8 Hampton, and No. 12 Towson.
The Tribe has a long history of dominating CAA competition, and more importantly the CAA Championship. The Tribe has won 27 of the CAA's 37 all-time women's tennis championships and finished as the runner up on seven other occasions. Last season, W&M won the CAA title in its first season under head coach
Jessica Giuggioli, downing Elon, 4-1, in the championship match.
Since the league adopted its current, head-to-head team format for the CAA Championship in 1995, the Green and Gold is 66-9 (.880) at the event. Overall since the first season of CAA tennis, the Tribe is 159-23 (.874) all-time versus league opponents. In matches with current CAA teams, the Green and Gold owns a 56-5 (.918) all-time record.
Delaware (21-3) is the No. 2 seed in the CAA Championship followed by No. 3 Charleston (16-5), No. 4 Elon (15-6), No. 5 Stony Brook (10-7), No. 6 UNCW (10-8), No. 7 Drexel (9-11), No. 8 Hampton (8-10), No. 9 North Carolina A&T (7-7), No. 10 Monmouth (6-15), No. 11 Hofstra (2-14), and No. 12 Towson (5-15).
The first round starts Thursday with Hampton and North Carolina A&T at 9 a.m. followed by Stony Brook and Towson at noon. Drexel and Monmouth square off at 3 p.m. with UNCW and Hofstra closing out the opening day of competition at 6 p.m. The top four seeds received byes to the quarterfinals with all four match-ups following the same 9 a.m., noon, 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. time slots on Friday.
The semifinals of the CAA Championship are set for Saturday, April 22, at noon and 3 p.m. The title match is slated for 2 p.m. on Sunday, April 23. The winner of the CAA Championship earns the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Championship.
2023 CAA Championship
Seeds
#1 William & Mary
#2 Delaware
#3 Charleston
#4 Elon
#5 Stony Brook
#6 UNCW
#7Drexel
#8 Hampton
#9 NCA&T
#10 Monmouth
#11 Hofstra
#12 Towson
Schedule
Thursday, April 20 – First Round
Match #1 – 9 a.m. - #8 Hampton vs. #9 N.C. A&T
Match #2 - 12 p.m. - #5 Stony Brook vs. #12 Towson
Match #3 – 3 p.m. - #7 Drexel vs. #10 Monmouth
Match #4 - 6 p.m. - #6 UNCW vs. #11 Hofstra
Friday, April 21 - Quarterfinals
Match #5 – 9 a.m. - #1 William & Mary vs. Winner of Match #1
Match #6 - 12 p.m. - #4 Elon vs. Winner of Match #2
Match #7 – 3 p.m. - #2 Delaware vs. Winner of Match #3
Match #8 - 6 p.m. - #3 Charleston vs. Winner of Match #4
Saturday, April 22 - Semifinals
Match #9 – 12 p.m. - Winner of Match #5 vs. Winner of Match #6
Match #10 – 3 p.m. - Winner of Match #7 vs. Winner of Match #8
Sunday, April 23 - Championship
Match #11 - 2 p.m. - Winner of Match #9 vs. Winner of Match #10
