Moravian Sits At Top Of Landmark Women's Tennis Poll

MADISON, N.J. - The Moravian College women's tennis team has been selected as the favorite to claim the first-ever Landmark Conference women's tennis title according to the Landmark Conference Preseason Women's Tennis Poll. The head women's tennis coaches and sports information directors at each institution that sponsors the sport were polled for the preseason ballot.

Moravian picked up a majority of the first-place votes to finish with 57 points in the voting. The Catholic University of America was just six points behind in second place with 51 points. The University of Scranton rounds out the top three after collecting 41 points in the voting.

The Greyhounds are coming off their first NCAA Tournament appearance this past year while compiling an impressive 14-3 record and reaching their conference postseason championship. Eight letterwinners are back from last year's squad, including First-Team All-Conference selection Dyana Swan.

Catholic also brings back a significant portion of its team after recording a 12-7 overall record and a 5-2 mark in conference competition. The Cardinals reached their conference semifinals before falling to a nationally ranked team and return all but one regular from its singles lineup of a year ago.

A pair of returning All-Conference players are among the returning players for Scranton which earned the third spot in the poll. The Royals have just three upperclassmen on the team, but two of them were the All-Conference picks last season when the team went 6-5.

Juniata College sits in fourth position in the poll after earning 33 points in the voting. The Eagles put together a 7-5 record last season. The Eagles will be extremely young in 2008 with a junior as the lone upperclassman, but they do have a sophomore who earned All-Conference honors as a freshman

Just one point behind Juniata is Susquehanna University with 32 points to claim the fifth spot. The Crusaders got a busy start to the year with seven matches in the fall season and have a deep roster for the 2008 campaign including All-Conference performer Brittany Reiman.

Goucher College collected 26 points in the balloting to claim sixth-place in the poll. The Gophers also had a strong fall with a 4-2 record and have four regulars back from its 2007 season. The team went 8-13 overall in 2007 and claimed one All-Conference spot and has that player back on the roster this season.

Drew University has the seventh spot in the poll after finishing with 12 points. One All-Conference performer returns for the Rangers after the team finished 2-9 in its last season. Drew features a young team with one senior and one junior joined by two sophomores and eight freshmen.

Scranton will be the first team in action in the spring when the Royals travel for a non-conference match at Vassar on Feb. 28. Conference play will open on March 15 with a trio of games. Catholic will host Moravian on that weekend, Juniata will play at Scranton and Goucher will welcome Drew.