2017 Women's Tennis Tournament Info
Tournament Website
The 2017 Empire 8 Women's Tennis Tournament field has been set, with four teams battling for a chance to win the postseason conference championship and automatic bid to the NCAA tournament in the Spring of 2018.
The tournament begins on Friday, Oct. 13 with two semifinal matches. Top seeded Nazareth College plays fourth-seeded Houghton College and second-seeded Stevens Institute of Technology will face third seed St. John Fisher College. The winners will advance to the final match on Saturday, Oct. 14.
The matches will be played until a decision is secured; the first team to earn five victories ends the match. Three doubles matches are followed by six singles matches, starting by position order.
St. John Fisher will serve as the official host of the event, the championship will be held just down the road on Nazareth's campus, with the Mendon Raquet Club serving as the alternate indoor site.
ORGANIZATION OF PLAY
Seeding
1. Nazareth (8-0)
@nazathletics
2. Stevens (7-1)
@stevensducks
3. St. John Fisher (6-2)
@fisherathletics
4. Houghton (5-3)
@hchighlanders
Empire 8 Twitter:
@empire8
Schedule
Semifinals, Friday, Oct. 13
4 p.m. (#1 Stevens vs. #4 Houghton)
4 p.m. (#2 Stevens vs. #3 St. John Fisher)
Finals, Saturday, Oct. 14
Championship Match
About (#1) Nazareth:
- Overall Record: 9-0
- Conference Record: 8-0
- Last E8 Tournament Appearance: 2016
- Last Time as #1 Seed: 2003
- Last Conference Championship: 2002
- Nazareth defeated Stevens, 6-3, on Sept. 2nd; wins, 6-3; Nazareth defeated Houghton, 6-3, on Sept. 6th; Nazareth defeated St. John Fisher, 8-1, on Oct. 3rd.
About (#2) Stevens:
- Overall Record: 8-1
- Conference Record: 7-1
- Last E8 Tournament Appearance: 2016
- Last Conference Championship: None
- Lone loss of the season came at the hands of the Golden Flyers back on September 2nd, a 6-3 defeat.
About (#3) St. John Fisher:
- Overall Record: 8-2
- Conference Record: 6-2
- Last E8 Tournament Appearance: 2011
- Last Conference Championship: None
- Lone conference losses came to Stevens on September 10th, 7-2 and to Nazareth on October 3rd, 8-1.
About (#4) Houghton:
- Overall Record: 7-5
- Conference Record: 5-3
- Last E8 Tournament Appearance: None
- Last Conference Championship: None
- Conference losses came to St. John Fisher, 7-2 on September 2nd and Nazareth 6-3 on September 6th.The Highlanders lost to Stevens 9-0 on September 16th.
TOURNAMENT QUICK FACTS
-The Empire 8 Athletic Conference will employ a four-team single elimination tournament format for the eleventh straight year. From the 1999-2006 season the Empire 8 champion was determined by a single elimination tournament featuring all teams in the conference.
- Two of the four teams that qualified for the 2016 tournament return again this year.
- 2017 marks is the tenth year Nazareth has qualified for the four-team tournament format, missing only the 2014 tournament.
- 2017 marks the second time overall Fisher has qualified for the four-team tournament and the first time since 2011.
- Stevens has qualified for the four-team tournament each year (2007-2017).
- Houghton has qualified for the tournament for the first time in program history.
- Ithaca has advanced to the championship match every year (1999-2015), winning 15 team titles.
- The Bombers will be looking for its 12th straight team title in 2016.
- Since Stevens joined the E8 conference in 2007-08, the women's championship match has featured the Ducks' eight times (2007, 09, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16), but Stevens has yet to win an E8 championship.
- Nazareth won the team title in 2001 and 2002.
E8 Tournament History
Past E8 Champions