Upcoming Match:
Salem vs. N.C. Wesleyan | April 25 | Rocky Mount, N.C. | 3 p.m.

LAST GAME RECAP (vs. Greensboro)
The Salem tennis team wrapped up the 2023 regular season schedule with a decisive 7-2 victory over USA South Conference foe Greensboro when the two teams collided at the Bert Lain Tennis Center on Sunday, April 23rd.

Salem began the match by claiming a default win in No. 3, which provided the tandem of Harley Hedrick and Abrielle Eckenroth the victory. Greensboro quickly evened the match at one-all after Madison Bowen and Jada Ore posted an 8-1 win against Emily Griffis and Alana Bridges.

Seniors Haley Gilley and Alyson Gammons capped off their Senior Day festivities by pairing in No. 2 doubles, posting an 8-1 victory against the tandem of Michaela McIntyre and Kilee Kemp.

As with doubles, the Spirits received two points in singles with default victories that were credited to Ashley Linden (No. 5) and Eckenroth (No. 6). Bowen picked up the second Greensboro point of the match, following a 6-1, 6-0 victory in No. 1 singles versus Griffis.

Gilley laid claim to the second point of the afternoon in No. 3 singles, clinching the team victory for Salem in the process, by defeating Kemp by scores of 6-1, 6-0. The sixth Salem point came by virtue of a Gammons 6-1, 6-0 win over McIntyre in No. 4 matchup.

Bridges faced the toughest battle of the afternoon in No. 2 singles, claiming a three-set victory. Bridges earned the opening set win 6-2, but dropped the second set in 6-4 fashion. She grabbed her seventh singles victory of the season, second as a No. 2 seed, with a hard-fought 11-9 triumph in the third set.

SALEM TENNIS MAKES FIRST-EVER APPEARANCE IN USA SOUTH CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT
With Sunday's 7-2 triumph over Greensboro, Salem tennis clinched its first-ever trip to the USA South Conference Tournament. The Spirits are the No. 8 seed in the league tournament and will now make a trek to Rocky Mount, N.C., to clash with No. 1 seed N.C. Wesleyan on Tuesday, April 25th.

Salem tennis becomes the fourth different program to appear in the USA South Conference Tournament for the Department of Athletics this season. The others include basketball, soccer and volleyball.

TENNIS HISTORY AT LEAGUE TOURNAMENTS
The 2023 invitation to the USA South Conference Tournament is historic because it marks the first time that Salem has appeared as a USA South Conference affiliated program. However, it will mark the ninth-time in 14-year history of the tennis program that the Spirits have played a postseason match in a league tournament.

The Spirits, who competed in the Great South Athletic Conference from 2009-2016, made their first-ever conference tournament in 2012 when they clashed with Maryville. The first postseason win came two years later, in 2014, as Salem downed Trinity (D.C.) by a score of 5-1. That was followed by a win over Agnes Scott the following afternoon, by the same 5-1 margin, but the bid for the league crown came to an end with a 5-0 setback to UC-Santa Cruz.

The most recent trip to a league tournament came in 2016, the last year of the Great South Athletic Conference affiliation for Salem, where the Spirits posted a 5-0 win against Wesleyan (Ga.) on April 29th before falling later that same day to UC-Santa Cruz by a 5-0 margin.

SALEM ALL-TIME CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT HISTORY

STEELE DESCRIBES HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF REACHING USA SOUTH TOURNAMENT

Salem tennis head coach Ed Steele, who has three decades of coaching experience, shared his thoughts on the first-ever appearance at the USA South Conference Tournament.

"The conference tournament is a by-product of hard work, team effort and continuing to improve individual skills," said Steele. "We are proud of the work and dedication of the ladies and continued success in the USA South conference."

Steele, who is the all-time winningest coach in Salem tennis history, has amassed 38 team wins over the course of his seven-year stint with the Spirits.

BATTLING BISHOPS, SPIRITS CLASH FOR SECOND TIME IN 2023
The N.C. Wesleyan tennis team proved why they were the preseason favorites in the USA South Athletic Conference in 2023, making quick work of Salem by a 9-0 margin, when the two teams collided at the Bert Lain Tennis Center on Monday, March 27th.

N.C. Wesleyan picked up its third straight win in league action by opening with a default victory in No. 3 doubles. Teammates Julie Schoorsmans and Elisa Mariotti provided the Battling Bishops with their second point of the afternoon (8-1) in a clash with Salem's Alyson Gammons and Alana Bridges.

The lead moved to 3-0 for N.C. Wesleyan as Kristal Dule and Cristina Mendoza Romero posted an 8-0 win in No. 1 doubles against the pairing of Cadence Durham and Emily Griffis.

Schoorsmans was responsible for the fourth point of the match, first in singles, with a 6-0, 6-0 win against Abrielle Eckenroth in the clash of sixth seeds. Mariotti followed that with the decisive team point, downing fellow No. 2 seed Griffis by scores of 6-0, 6-0.

The sixth point in the match came from Andrea Elaez Miranda, who took down Gammons by margins of 6-0, 6-0, in the fourth-seeded contest. Dule continued the N.C. Wesleyan dominance with a 6-0, 6-0 victory against Durham in the No. 1 singles clash.

One of the final two team points came from Romero, who posted a 6-0, 6-0 victory over Bridges. Meanwhile, teammate Bethan Fothergill emerged with a 6-1, 6-0 victory in No. 5 singles to complete the third sweep of the conference slate for the Battling Bishops.

Salem is 2-4 all-time in program history when facing N.C. Wesleyan on the courts. The Spirits claimed the first-ever meeting by a 7-1 margin on February 13, 2009 and grabbed their most recent win on April 17, 2019 by a 9-0 score.

SALEM vs. N.C. WESLEYAN HEAD-TO-HEAD

LEADING THE WAY FOR THE SPIRITS IN 2023
Five individuals on the Salem tennis team captured at least three singles wins on the season, including junior Alana Bridges who led the way with seven. Teammate Alyson Gammons had the second-most singles victories with six, followed by Abrielle Eckenroth (four), Haley Gilley (three) and Ashley Linden (three).

Bridges won two matches each as the No. 2, No. 3 and No. 4 seed, while claiming one win at No. 5. Four of Gammons' six wins came at No. 4, while the Ridgeway, Va., native posted one win as both the No. 3 and No. 5 seed. Eckenroth reached four wins in her first year on the team, which have come as both the fifth (one win) and sixth (three) seeds.

Eckenroth is the hottest individual in singles play heading into Tuesday's meeting with N.C. Wesleyan. She has won her last three straight matches, all by two sets, and is 3-1 in April. The victories have come against Savannah Trujillo (Mary Baldwin), Clara Seamons (Southern Virginia) and Lauren Rose (Johnson & Wales). Both Bridges and Gammons have won back-to-back matches for Salem.

BREAKING DOWN THE BATTLING BISHOPS' 2023 SEASON
N.C. Wesleyan captured the No. 1 overall seed at the USA South Conference Tournament after posting a 9-0 record in league play.

The Battling Bishops did not surrender a single point to any of the competition, winning all nine league matches by scores of 9-0.

Individually, four players won at least 10 singles matches, including Kristal Dule, who was 17-6 on the slate. Dule captured 13 of her team-best 17 wins as the No. 1 seed for the Battling Bishops.

Both Andrea Elaez Miranda and Elisa Mariotti were tied with 12 singles wins, second-most on the team, while Bethan Fothergill closed out the season with 11. Miranda claimed nine of her 12 wins as the No. 4 seed, while Mariotti posted 10 wins as the Battling Bishops' No. 2 seed. Fothergill came through with nine victories as the No. 5 seed.