CEDARVILLE, Ohio - Cedarville University will serve as host of the first-ever Great Midwest Athletic Conference Women's Tennis Tournament this weekend.

Action begins Friday indoors at Dayton Center Courts because of the inclement weather forecast. Saturday's championship match is scheduled on campus at the Johnson-Murdoch Tennis Complex at 10:00 a.m.

Davis & Elkins enters the tournament as the top seed, finishing the regular season undefeated, including a win over the second seeded Lady Jackets.

The Senators finished their regular season 7-0 in conference and 17-5 overall. They won five of their seven matches by a 9-0 score, dropping two games (7-2 win) to Alderson Broaddus and three (6-3 win) to Cedarville. D&E had won 10 matches in a row recently before a 5-4 loss to Georgetown College, but rebounded to defeat Kentucky Wesleyan to conclude the regular season.

Cedarville finished the regular season 6-1 in conference and 16-6 overall. They were the only other team in conference to finish with a winning record overall this season. The Lady Jackets also won five of their matches in conference by a 9-0 score, losing 6-3 to D&E and winning 7-2 over Kentucky Wesleyan. Both D&E and Cedarville will earn a bye into the semifinals.

Alderson Broaddus was 4-3 in conference, but finished under .500 at 7-12 overall. The Battlers will be the #3 seed in the tournament and take on #6 Central State (0-7) in the quarterfinals of the tournament. #4 Kentucky Wesleyan was 3-4 in the conference and will face #5 Ursuline who went 1-6 in the G-MAC.

Individually, Natela Portshidze leads the conference with a 20-2 overall singles record and a .909 winning percentage. Teammates Jala Hamada and Halima Michael also posted high winning percentages at .818 (18-4) and .737 (14-5) respectively. Portshidze led the conference at 16-0 in #3 singles action, while Hamada went 15-2 in #4 singles to lead the G-MAC. In strictly conference matches, D&E led the way in top four singles spots, combining to go 28-1.  

Cedarville was led by Maryssa Herbert's 14 wins, while Kristen Heydt went 7-1 and posted a .875 winning percentage. Lauren Jackson joined Herbert with double digit wins at 13-5, and she ranked top in the conference at 7-4 in #1 singles action, and was first in the G-MAC at 6-1 in #2 singles as well.  The Lady Jackets have found a great amount of success in doubles action, posting three of the top four pairings in the G-MAC, led by Joy Dice and Jackson, who went 15-2 (.882) this season. Courtney Heydt and Lily Schuler were second at 16-3 (.842).

The Battlers Ashley Griffin posted the conference's top winning percentage in #5 singles at 8-3.

G-MAC Championship Site  |  Tournament Bracket (pdf)