CEDAR CITY, Utah -- For the first time since 2013, Southern Utah women's tennis team will enter the Big Sky Conference Championship Tournament which will be held in Phoenix, Ariz. starting on April 26.

Season Recap

The Thunderbird women's tennis team finished off the regular season with 14 wins and 10 losses. Ghita Nassik was awarded a Big Sky Player of the Week award.

Eira Tobrand, a freshman from Sweden leads Southern Utah in the singles competition with 17 wins on the season. Teammate Ghita Nassik followers her with 11 wins.

In the doubles competition, Eira Tobrand and Zoe Tanti lead the team with a record of 5-1, with teammates Laura Martin Lozano and Daniela Cozzi not far behind them with a record of 5-3.

Southern Utah will enter the Big Sky Championship Tournament as the No. 5 seed of six team.

Big Sky Conference Championship Tournament

The T-Birds will play in the second Quarterfinal match of the day at 10:30 a.m. (PT) against No. 4 Idaho State on Thursday, April 26 at the Phoenix Tennis Center in Phoenix, Ariz.

The winner of the match will continue into a Semifinal match on Friday, April 27.

Big Sky Championship: Opponent Preview

Finishing last season off with an overall record of 11-11, Big Sky opponent, Idaho State University Bengals are coming out with a young team; all nine of their rostered players being sophomores. The Bengals ended the regular season with a 9-12 record.

Posting a team-best 16-3 overall singles record in her first season, Louise-Mare Botes was closely followed by her sister, Huibre-Mare Botes with a record of 15-4. The sisters are from Bloemfontein, South Africa.

Recording the highest best record on the team for doubles competition, Hristina Cvetkovic from Serbia and Madison Fenske from South Dakota went 6-5 for the Bengals last season.

Gretchen Maloney enters her third season as head coach of the women's tennis program and her fourth season overall at Idaho State. Maloney made vast improvements to the program in her first two seasons, doubling her wins from 2016 to 2017. She is accompanied by volunteer assistant Andrew Warren.

Words From Coach Ketmayura

Looking forward to the tournament, head coach Rose Ketmayura said, "We're super excited to be playing in the conference tournament. The girls are going into the tournament with a lot of confidence and there's really no pressure on us. We're gonna play carefree and have a ton of fun by taking in the whole experience. They've worked really hard this year and now it's game time!"

Follow Us

Follow the Thunderbirds all season @SUUWTennis on Twitter and Instagram and by liking the Southern Utah Women's Tennis page on Facebook.

Read all about the Thunderbirds sports on www.suutbirds.com.