NEW YORK—The seeds and schedule for the 2022 BIG EAST Men's and Women's Tennis Championship presented by JEEP were announced by the conference office on Monday afternoon and the Villanova women (4-9) drew the #8 seed. This year's conference tournament will take place this Thursday, April 21 through Sunday, April 24 at the Cayce Tennis & Fitness Center in Cayce, S.C.
Seeds are determined by the BIG EAST 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. Villanova will begin play on Thursday morning with a 9 a.m. match against #9 seed Connecticut (9-11), with the winner advancing to the quarterfinal round on Friday afternoon against #1 seed St. John's (17-5).
The first round matchup between the Wildcats and the Huskies will be a rematch of a regular season meeting on April 10 when Villanova tallied a 4-3 victory at the West Campus Tennis Complex. That win was a come-from-behind affair for the Wildcats, who lost the doubles point to begin the match but rallied to win singles matches at the No. 1, 3, 4, and 6 spots in the lineup to claim the win. Senior
Annalise Klopfer (Palm Harbor, Fla.), junior
Caitlin Fisher (Cincinnati, Ohio), freshman
Valieriia Kornieva (Dnipro, Ukraine) and junior
Amanda Rivera-Gonzalez (Bayamon, Puerto Rico) all won their singles matches versus Connecticut in the regular season meeting between the teams.
Villanova tallied wins over Drexel, Seton Hall, Saint Joseph's and the Huskies during their regular season schedule while having to overcome frequent interruptions and delays due to inclement weather and other postponements. Klopfer led the team at the top spot in the lineup and is currently 12-2 on the year, including 11-1 in dual matches at No. 1 singles. She has won eight straight decisions and was a unanimous first team All-BIG EAST selection a year ago. Fisher is also a double-digit singles winner this season with a 10-12 overall record and a 6-7 mark in dual matches. She owns at least one win in the No. 2, No. 3 and No. 4 spots in the lineup.
Freshmen
Emma Brogan (Kennesaw, Ga.) and Kornieva have come on strong during the second half of the season. Brogan has won three matches at No. 2 singles and teams with Klopfer in the No. 1 doubles spot where the pair own a 4-4 record. Kornieva has played everywhere from third through sixth in the lineup and is 3-3 at No. 4 singles in her most frequent matchups. Sophomore
Bella Steffen (Cary, N.C.) and Rivera-Gonzalez have been the other top contributors for the Wildcats the spring season.
In doubles play the top pairings for Villanova have been Klopfer/Brogan at No. 1 doubles, Kornieva and senior
Sabina Grigorian (Atlanta, Ga.) in the second spot, and Fisher and senior
Olivia Kapp (Milton, Ga.) at No. 3 doubles.
There are 11 women's teams and eight men's teams competing at this week's BIG EAST Championship. The Villanova women have advanced to the semifinals at the conference tournament in each of the last two years that the tournament has been held (2019, 2021).
