April 14, 2008

MILWAUKEE - For the second consecutive season, the Marquette women's tennis team earned the No. 4 seed at the BIG EAST Conference Tournament to take place April 17-20 at the Varsity Tennis Courts in Tampa, Fla. It was announced Monday by conference officials. Notre Dame earned the No. 1 seed, while Louisville earned the No. 2 seed followed by host USF as the No. 3 seed.

"We are very excited to have earned the No. 4 seed and a first-round bye in the conference tournament," said head coach Jody Bronson. "We worked very hard this season to get where we are. Upsetting DePaul was a goal of ours this season, and we know that we can play at that level and beat ranked teams. We feel we're are at a good place right now and look forward to starting tournament play on Friday."

The top-four seeds have earned a first-round bye and will begin play on Friday, April 18. First round action for the remaining eight seeds will begin on Thursday, April 17. The championship match will be played on Sunday, April 20, at 9 a.m. ET. The winner of the BIG EAST Tournament earns the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Championship.

Marquette will take on the winner of No. 5 seed DePaul and No. 12 seed Georgetown at Noon ET on Friday, April 18.

The Golden Eagles recently upset then No. 61 DePaul, 4-3, on April 12, but did not play the Hoyas during the regular season.