PSAC Tennis Team Championship Preview

BLOOMSBURG- The 2007 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Men's and Women's Tennis Team Championships will be held April 20-21at Bloomsburg University. On Friday, the men's semi-finals will begin at 1 p.m. and the women's semi-final matches will start at 4 p.m.

On the men's side, top-seeded Kutztown will take on fourth-seeded East Stroudsburg, while number two, Millersville will face third-ranked Bloomsburg. On the women's side, California (PA), the top-seed from the PSAC West, will take on Millersville, the second seed from the PSAC East and Bloomsburg, the number one seed from the East, will battle Slippery Rock, the second seed out of the Western Division. On Saturday, the winners of each match will face off in the finals with the men's final beginning at 10 a.m. and the women's match to follow at 1 p.m.

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The Kutztown men's tennis team will be looking for its fourth straight PSAC title, as well as its seventh in the last eight years. The Golden Bears are ranked 31st in nation in the latest Fila/ Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Division II National Rankings, as well as second in the East Region. Kutztown did not lose a team point in any of this year's PSAC matches, including sweeps of the other three conference playoff participants. Leading the way for Kutztown is Santiago Baquerizo, who holds a 14-3 record as KU's #1 singles player. Baquerizo, the #2 ranked player in the region and 32nd in the nation, teams with Lukas Labitsch to form the Golden Bears' top doubles team. The pair, ranked number one in the region and sixth in the nation, have a 13-2 record.

Millersville, 4-2, 3-1 in the PSAC, are ranked 10th in the East Region. Millersville, runner-up in last year's championship, are led by Greg Bennett and Chris Paolini who will play at number one and number two singles respectively and will also team up to form the Marauders top doubles team. Paolini, a junior, was also named PSAC tennis player of the week for the period ending April 3.

Bloomsburg, 7-7, 2-2 in the PSAC and winners of 20 PSAC Championships, will look to regain the title for the first time since the 2003 season. They are led by 2006-07 PSAC individual champion Dan Gal (South Park/ South Park), who is ranked seventh in the East region, and has a 16-4 record playing number one singles. The doubles team of Wil Biddle (Colchester, England) and Dan Phillips (Bristol, England) has been a key to the Huskies success this season. They are 10-3 at number two doubles. Phillips also holds a 9-8 record in singles matches.

East Stroudsburg comes into the PSAC championships with a record of 6-5, 1-3 in the PSAC. They are led by Jeff Kurz and Kyle Doebler, who will play at number one and number two singles respectively. The two will also pair up to form the Warrior's top doubles team.

Bloomsburg, winners of three straight PSAC Championships and nine overall, are 16-2, and 4-0 in the PSAC East. The Huskies are ranked 32nd in the latest Fila Division II National Poll and second in the East region. Leading the way is senior Emily Murphy (Worcester/ Methacton) and freshman Katie Hasyn (Lansdale/ North Penn). Murphy is 14-8 on the year, while Hasyn is 18-4, with each playing atop the singles bracket. In addition, the Huskies have won all four PSAC East Player of the Week Honors in 2007. Hasyn won the award twice with Murphy and Iida Hokkanen (Helsinki, Finland) also winning once.

California, top-seed out of the West, is 23-1, 4-0 in the PSAC East and is looking to win their first PSAC Championship since 1993. Ranked seventh by Fila/ITA, Cal has already defeated all three other teams in the tournament this season by 9-0 margins. Last year, Cal upended Kutztown in the PSAC semifinals, 5-4, but lost to Bloomsburg in the championship match, 5-1. This year's lineup has four players that have been nationally-ranked this season, led by junior All-America candidate Inga Chilingaryan. Chilingaryan a the two-time PSAC singles champion, is currently ranked 11th by the ITA in singles and is paired with freshman Yumi Matsuto to earn a number five doubles ranking by the ITA. Chilingaryan is 33-3 overall in singles play this year, raising her two-year mark at Cal to 62-4. In doubles action, Chilingaryan is 29-2 this season and 55-7 the past two seasons.

Millersville, the second seed from the PSAC East, comes into the championships with a record of 6-3, 3-1 in the PSAC East. The Marauders will be the underdogs this weekend, coming into the tournament with a 0-3 record against the other playoff teams. The Marauders will need their top players, senior Christy Lilli and junior Melissa Berg, to step up in order to advance.

Slippery Rock, ranked 36th in the Fila/ ITA national poll and third in the east region, come into the championships with a record of 21-4, 3-1 in the PSAC West. The 21 wins ties a school record and is just the third time in school history that Slippery Rock has posted at least 20 wins. Kayla Blackburn and Laura Handy are the top players for "the Rock". They will play at number one and two singles respectively. Slippery Rock defeated Millersville 8-1 earlier this season but dropped contests to both Bloomsburg and California.