MOC men's tennis one win away from clinching in CVAC

By News-Argus Staff
Published in Sports on April 15, 2005 1:57 PM

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MOUNT OLIVE -- A rematch of last year's conference championship game in one sport and a chance for another sport to win its first-ever regular season conference championship highlight this weekend's Mount Olive College athletics events.

The nationally 39th-ranked Mount Olive men's tennis team is one win away from clinching at least a share of its first-ever Carolinas-Virginia Athletics Conference regular season championship and two wins away from going unbeaten in conference play for the first time in school history. Mount Olive (13-7 overall, 8-0 CVAC) has already set a school record for most conference wins in a season.

The Trojans play host to Lees-McRae (10-3, 6-1) Sunday at 1 p.m. at Walker Tennis Center on the campus of Mount Olive College.

Mount Olive wraps up the regular season with a CVAC matchup at St. Andrews (0-13, 0-8). The Trojans began the weekend this afternoon with a match at Division I East Carolina.

The Mount Olive women's tennis team also kicked off its weekend this afternoon at East Carolina. The Trojans have another Division I matchup Saturday morning as they travel to UNC-Wilmington.

Mount Olive (11-8 overall, 5-3 CVAC) concludes regular season play Monday at St. Andrews (0-14, 0-7).

In baseball action, defending conference champion Mount Olive (23-23 overall, 10-11) plays host to defending regular-season champion Pfeiffer (18-29, 8-13) this weekend for a three-game CVAC series.

The two teams play a doubleheader Saturday beginning at 4 p.m. and conclude the series Sunday at 1 p.m. at Scarborough Field.

Last year, No. 2 seed Mount Olive defeated top-seeded Pfeiffer 10-6 in the championship game of the CVAC tournament. This season, both teams enter this weekend's conference finale mathematically at risk of not even qualifying for next weekend's eight-team CVAC Tournament.

The ninth-place team in the regular season standings does not qualify for the tournament.

Mathematically, Mount Olive could finish as high as fourth in the final standings. The Trojans recently put together a seven-game winning streak and split a doubleheader earlier this week against nationally 17th-ranked Catawba.

The Mount Olive softball team plays host to Newberry in a non-conference doubleheader Sunday at 2 p.m. at Nancy Chapman Cassell Field. Mount Olive (14-31 overall, 5-15 CVAC) concluded conference play last weekend.

The Trojans wrap up the regular season Tuesday at Elizabeth City State. Mount Olive's doubleheader at Shaw, originally scheduled for this afternoon, was canceled due to a scheduling conflict by Shaw.

The Carolinas-Virginia Athletics Conference Tournaments for baseball, softball and men's and women's tennis get underway one week from today.

The CVAC baseball tournament returns to Wilson, while the CVAC softball tournament will be held in Hartsville, S.C., and the CVAC Men's and Women's Tennis Tournaments will take place in Sumter, S.C., for the second consecutive year.