Both the men’s and women’s tennis teams will face stiff competition when they travel Richmond, Va., next Thursday for the Colonial Athletic Association championships.

Two CAA men’s tennis teams are ranked nationally. Virginia Commonwealth (19-3, 2-0 CAA) is ranked No. 15 and William & Mary (14-8, 2-1 CAA) is ranked No. 45.

On the men’s side, the Seahawks finished the regular season with a 12-8 record and are 3-1 in CAA play. The three men’s conference wins came in a 7-0 shutout of Towson (7-11, 0-1 CAA), and wins over George Mason (3-8, 0-4 CAA) and Drexel (7-4, 0-1 CAA).

The men ended regular season competition winning three straight, and five of their last six matches.

“We are definitely peaking at the right time,” men’s coach Allen Farfour said.

Last season the fourth seeded Seahawks beat their quarterfinal opponents, fifth seeded JMU, 4-0. The Seahawks were knocked out of the tournament, 4-0, by No. one seeded VCU in the semifinals.

Farfour predicts that, barring the unexpected, UNC Wilmington will earn a fifth seed while JMU (2-11, 1-1 CAA) will earn a fourth seed. This would put the two in a rematch of last year’s quarterfinal.

The Dukes would earn a higher spot than UNCW because they defeated the Seahawks early in the season, UNCW’s only CAA loss.

“We are playing better than when we played (JMU) earlier in the season,” Farfour said.

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The competition that the women will face in Richmond will be tough. The CAA has two women’s tennis teams ranked in the top 20 nationally. William & Mary (19-4, 4-0 CAA) is ranked No. 16 in the country while Virginia Commonwealth (19-0, 3-0 CAA) is ranked eighth.

The women ended their regular season competition with an overall record of 9-7 and finished 3-2 in the CAA.

The three conference wins came in the final weekend of the season. The Seahawks swept their road trip, shutting out Towson (8-10, 1-1 CAA), George Mason (3-11, 1-6 CAA) and Drexel (4-4, 1-1 CAA).

The two conference losses came via 7-0 shutouts at the hands of James Madison (9-5, 2-1 CAA) and William & Mary.

The women’s team is young, with Sally Kiser the only player who saw action regularly in the 2001-2002 season. While the team as a whole lacks tournament experience they are looking forward to the experience.

“We are eager to get another shot at JMU,” sophomore Natalie King said.

Women’s head coach Jenny Garrity believes that the young team is a plus for the tournament.

“They haven’t played in the tournament,” she said. “The nerves haven’t gotten to them. They are excited about playing.”

In last year’s CAA championship the women were defeated in the quarter final round.

They entered the championship as the five seed and were defeated 4-3 by the four seed JMU.

The UNC Wilmington women’s tennis team has always struggled in the CAA championsip tournament, having never won a match.

They hope to change that this year.

“We want to win a tournament match this year,” Garrity said. “It’s a goal of ours.”