Cullowhee, N.C. – Western Carolina women's tennis opens play in the 2024 Southern Conference Championship on Wednesday as the Catamounts battle chromatic rival Furman at the Champions Club in Chattanooga, Tenn. The tournament's seventh-seeded Catamounts face No. 2 seed Furman in the second wave of matches on Thursday with a scheduled 10:30 a.m. first serve.
Thursday's Matchup:
Western Carolina (9-13, 1-6 SoCon) vs Furman (10-12, 6-1 SoCon)
April 18 | 10:30 a.m. | Champion's Club | Chattanooga, Tenn.
Live stats: https://tinyurl.com/mbwvxvz2
Last Time Out:
The Catamounts enjoyed a week off from competition while the remainder of the league completed its schedule. But most recently, WCU won its regular-season finale at Chattanooga against the sixth-seeded Mocs. Despite dropping the doubles point and facing a 1-0 deficit early, the trio of Jade Groen, Madison Schwarz, and Andrea Redondo all picked up singles wins, punctuated by Angela Perez's victory on the third court to finish off the 4-3 decision. The win was the Catamounts' ninth of the season and their first at Chattanooga in program history.
The Furman Paladins fell to the ETSU Bucs in a tight 4-3 matchup that decided the SoCon regular season championship and the top seed in the conference tournament. The Paladins dropped the doubles point early but battled back in singles matches to tie it at three. The match and championship were decided on the top court as Furman's Sara Snyder and ETSU's Sofia Markova battled through three sets with two 7-6 tiebreakers which fell in Markova's favor.
Players to Watch:
The Catamounts are expected to be at full strength heading into the tournament, a welcome change from the previous matchup which saw the Paladins take a doubles win and score a singles point by forfeit. Jade Groen and Isabella Sambola both took singles wins in the 5-2 Furman win earlier this season. Madison Schwarz nearly came away with a court-four victory for the Catamounts but fell in a tight 6-4, 7-5 sets. Angela Perez is coming off a match-clinching singles victory against Chattanooga and looks to carry her momentum into the matchup on Thursday.
All seven Paladins recorded positive records in conference play with Macy Hitchcock, Marissa Pennings, Grace Thomas, and Maeve Thornton all tallying at least five wins in SoCon action. Thomas carried an undefeated 7-0 record through the 2024 conference slate and was one of two Paladins to record double-digit singles wins on the season. The other was Macy Hitchcock who led the Furman squad with 13 singles wins in her freshman campaign.
Common Opponents:
At the time of the previous matchup between the Catamounts and Paladins, the two teams had only played against two common opponents: No. 35 Wake Forest and UNC Asheville. That number is now up to nine common opponents as both teams completed their conference seasons and the Paladins played a No. 46-ranked Charlotte squad.
The squads have only two common results in conference play as both the Catamounts and the Paladins took wins against Chattanooga and a loss to ETSU. WCU scrapped a 4-3 win in the Scenic City to close out the regular season while Furman cruised to a 7-0 victory at home against the Mocs. The Catamounts fell in a 7-0 matchup with ETSU to open their SoCon schedule while the Paladins dropped a tight 4-3 matchup to the Bucs to decide the top seeds in the conference tournament. Both teams fell with 4-0 decisions to a red-hot Charlotte team that has recorded 18 wins on the season.
Series History:
The Catamounts and Paladins have faced each other 38 times in series history with Furman claiming each of the previous matchups. However, WCU has momentum as the two most recent matches were 5-2 decisions with the Purple and Gold starting in a hole early due to an injury in this season's regular-season matchup. The Paladins hold a 2-0 edge on matchups in the SoCon tournament as Furman and WCU met in back-to-back years in the 2016 and 2017 quarterfinals.
While the Catamounts are looking to make program history with their first win against the Paladins, the team has already made history several times this season. The 2023-24 Catamounts recorded eight straight wins to break a record held by the 1978-79 team for most consecutive wins and picked up the program's first road win at Chattanooga in closing out the regular season.
For the latest information on Catamount women's tennis, follow @catamounts or @catamountTennis on Twitter or go to www.catamountsports.com. In-match updates are on the Catamount women's tennis official tennis Twitter page.
