The University of Memphis women's tennis team finished the regular season with a 13-8 record, earning the second seed in the inaugural American Athletic Conference Tournament.
After the program's breakthrough season a year ago, the expectations were higher than ever, but Memphis head coach Lee Taylor Walker said his team is happy to have the two seed.
"We had some high expectations for this season coming off our best season ever last year," Walker said. "We were hopeful to get the one seed earlier in the season, but as we got later on in the season we took a couple of tough losses. We like where we are (at the two seed). It's good."
Sophomore Skylar Kuykendall is focusing less on the seed and more on the task at hand.
"No matter what seed you are, it's gonna be a tough tournament, so I think we just need to make the best of what we have right now," Kuykendall said.
As the second seed, Memphis has a first round bye in the conference tournament and will play either Temple University or the University of Central Florida. If the Tigers are able to pull off the victory, they will face either Southern Methodist or the tournament host South Florida.
The Tigers kicked off the year with a 6-2 record with the losses coming at then-No. 3 North Carolina and then-No. 28 Oklahoma, but they dropped four of their next seven games before finishing the season strong, winning four of their final six contests.
But, according to Walker, the team hasn't performed to the best of its abilities this season.
"To be honest, all season long it's been crazy because we haven't necessarily felt like we've achieved our potential," Walker said. "The nice thing about that is that we're still playing, so we still have room for that to happen. I think we've always held out hope that it's going to come together."
The Tigers may have underperformed compared to expectations, but they still have put themselves in position for a second-consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament.
"I think if we make the (conference finals) we'll secure being in the tournament, so taking care of the first two rounds and getting to the finals is important," Walker said. "If we don't get to the finals, if we win our first round only and lose in the semifinals, then we'll definitely be a bubble team."
In singles, the U of M is led by freshmen Marta Morga and Anki Wind. Morga holds a team-best 23-6 overall record, and Wind is 23-10. Morga and Wind are the only Tigers to go undefeated in conference play, each with a record of 4-0.
In doubles, the pairing of Wind and senior Stefanie Mikesz is 16-10 this season, but they have dropped their last two contests. Morga and senior Liza Tymchenko are 8-3 but haven't seen any action against ranked opponents.
A season ago, Memphis made the tournament and defeated Florida State University in the opening round before being swept by the University of Alabama in the second round.
The Tigers first match is slated for Friday 8 a.m. in Tampa, Fla.
