ANNVILLE, Pa. – The Lebanon Valley women's tennis team will begin their quest for a third consecutive conference title on Thursday after qualifying for the Middle Atlantic Conference Freedom Championship as the third seed.
 
The Dutchmen (15-3, 4-2 MAC Freedom) will have to play both matches on the road this week in order to make a return trip to the NCAA Tournament. First up is a rematch with second-seeded Misericordia University (13-2, 5-1 MAC Freedom). The Cougars earned the home match by the slimiest of margins with a 5-4 victory on Saturday in the regular season finale. Thursday's semifinal match is scheduled for a 4 p.m. start in Dallas. The winner will face top-seeded Stevens Institute of Technology on Saturday at Braddock Park in North Bergen, New Jersey for the Championship. The Ducks defeated fourth-seeded Arcadia University 5-0 on Tuesday in the other semifinal.
 
LVC looks to use strong doubles play to get off to great starts against the Cougars and Ducks this week. The Dutchmen are 16-2 in doubles play during conference matches this year including winning two of the three matches in both regular season meetings with Stevens and Misericordia. The team of Nicole Honrade and Jacquelyn McBride will play number one doubles and will face Brianna Pizzano and Emily Brecker on Thursday. Honrade and McBride are 6-0 this year including a win over the Cougars on Saturday and a win over the Ducks' top team. Sarah McComas and Sarah Kramer are slated for number two doubles where they are 5-1 and will be looking to avenge an 8-4 defeat to the Misericordia team of Hailey Loughlin and Lydia Barbour. Eliana Shenk and Megan Martin are 2-1 overall and 2-0 in conference play at number three doubles. They defeated Misericordia's Isabella Aniska and Erin Cridge 8-5 on Saturday.
 
Honrade is 10-4 in singles and will take on Pizzano at number one. Pizzano was able to rally for a three-set victory on Saturday after Honrade won the opening set and gave the defending MAC Freedom Player of the Year trouble. McBride is 14-4 in singles and will play number two against Loughlin after winning in straight sets on Saturday. McComas is looking to avenge a tough three-set defeat to Brecker at number three where the sophomore won the first set and then dropped the next two. McComas is 17-4 this year including 8-2 at number three.
 
Kramer will face Barbour at number four singles after Barbour won in two sets on Saturday. Kramer enters the match with a 5-7 record and 3-4 mark at number four. Shenk is 13-4 in singles and will face Cridge at number five. Shenk dropped the first set 6-1 on Saturday but came back strong to win in three sets including a 6-2 victory in the third set. The match could come down to number six singles again where Martin and Aniska will have a rematch of their epic three-setter that finished late on Saturday night with Aniska getting the edge in a third set tiebreaker. Martin is 12-5 this year in singles including a 4-2 mark at number six.
 
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