WISE, Va. – The fifth-seeded UVa-Wise women's tennis team is set to take on fourth-seeded West Virginia Wesleyan in the opening round of the Mountain East Conference Women's Tennis Tournament Friday morning at 11 a.m. in Charleston, West Virginia, on the Schoenbaum Tennis Courts.
 
The Cavaliers (7-6, 3-4 MEC) will face the Lady Bobcats (6-3, 4-3) in the first round of the MEC tournament for the third consecutive year and will take on West Virginia Wesleyan for the second weekend in a row.
 
Last Saturday the Cavs dropped a 7-2 decision to the Lady Bobcats at a neutral site in Fairmont, West Virginia, giving UVa-Wise the No. 5 seed in this weekend's tournament while clinching the No. 4 seed for West Virginia Wesleyan.
 
UVa-Wise is coming off of an 8-1 non-conference road win at Davis & Elkins this past Sunday in its final regular season contest of the fall season. The Cavs are led by seniors Haley Thacker and Junetta Nuckels who have each reached eight singles wins this season and have only lost one doubles match as a pair. Nuckels and Thacker are 7-1 overall in doubles, 3-0 at No. 2 doubles and 4-1 at the third spot. Thacker holds the best singles record this season, going 8-4 all at No. 3 singles. Nuckels is 8-5 overall in singles play, undefeated at the fifth spot and 5-5 at No. 6.
 
Freshman Mackenzie Lawson has played well in her inaugural collegiate season, also tallying eight singles wins. Lawson is a perfect 3-0 at No. 4 singles and holds a 5-5 mark at the fifth spot. No. 1 singles player Daria Tyshchenko has had another standout season, recording 14 total wins in doubles and singles combined. The sophomore has gone 7-6 in both singles and doubles, partnering with teammate Bailey Christoforatos at the top doubles spot.
 
The Cavs have registered home conference wins over Shepherd University (8-1), Fairmont State (7-2) and Concord University (9-0) but have dropped league contests away from home to West Virginia State (9-0), University of Charleston (8-1), West Liberty (8-1) and West Virginia Wesleyan (7-2).
 
The Lady Bobcats have also defeated Fairmont State (9-0), Shepherd (6-0) and Concord (8-1) in league play, while losing to West Virginia State (9-0), University of Charleston (9-0) and West Liberty (6-3).
 
As the fourth seed in the MEC tournament a year ago the Cavs were defeated 5-1 by the fifth-seeded Lady Bobcats in the opening round, after a 5-4 win over West Virginia Wesleyan in Wise during the regular season. In 2013 the No. 4 seed Lady Bobcats got the best of the Cavs in the first round of the MEC tournament as well, claiming a 5-2 victory against No. 5 seed UVa-Wise.
 
The winner of tomorrow's match will advance to the MEC tournament semifinals and take on top-seeded West Virginia State, who received a first-round bye, Saturday at 11 a.m.
 
The tournament's home page with the complete schedule and more information can be found by following the link at the top of the page or by visiting the conference's website at mountaineast.org.
 
Visit uvawisecavs.com for all Cavalier women's tennis news, statistics, complete schedule and more.