SURPRISE, Ariz.--The women's tennis team is in Arizona this week for the PacWest Championships. The 12-team tournament began today with the 5-12 seeds playing in the first round. Point Loma earned the fourth seed after finishing 17-5 in the regular season, including wins over Academy of Art and Azusa Pacific, the two and three seeds respectively. The quarterfinals begin tomorrow at 9 a.m. with the Sea Lions playing the winner of Sonoma State and Holy Names. 

Coming off of their senior day win over Azusa Pacific the Sea Lions moved up to No. 23 in the ITA tennis rankings this week, the team is also currently ranked fourth in the NCAA regional rankings which would qualify them for the regional tournament. Carolina Cuevas (12), Nikki Newell (46), and Shelby Groeneveld (48), are all also ranked for their singles play. Whichever team Point Loma faces tomorrow will be a familiar opponent as PLNU earned wins over each of these teams in the regular season, a 5-1 win over Sonoma State and a 9-0 sweep of Holy Names. The tournament continues through Saturday and the Sea Lions will look to improve their resume with some key wins in hopes of earning a spot in the NCAA regional. 

You can check out the PacWest tournament homepage for the bracket, live stats, and links to ITA and NCAA rankings.