Women’s Tennis Selected Sixth in GNAC Preseason Poll

BOSTON – With two new additions to the conference ranks, Suffolk women's tennis has been picked to finish sixth in the GNAC Preseason Poll, voted on by the league's eight head coaches, the league announced Monday afternoon. 

Colby Sawyer, the GNAC's newest full-time member, claimed the top seed in its first season in the league with 57 points and half of the first-place votes. Two-time reigning GNAC Champion Johnson & Wales, who received one first-place vote, slid into second-place, just one point behind the favorite Charges, with 56. Thanks to three first-place nods Simmons rounded out the top three with 49. 

Just eight points separated the middle of the pack with Regis (39) and GNAC women's tennis affiliate Eastern Nazarene (32) placing just ahead of Suffolk (31). 

Saint Joseph (Conn.) (16) and Albertus Magnus (8) complete the preseason predictions in seventh and eighth, respectively.

 The Rams, who begin their second season under Matthew Tiberii's leadership, look to punch a ticket to their 11th straight league's postseason to claim the conference crown for the first time since 2007. Suffolk will look to the racquet of senior Delaney Dunlap who returns after an all-league singles first-team selection a year ago as the blue-and-gold's ace. 

Suffolk, who opens the year with a three-match homestand, gets action underway Sunday, Sept. 2 versus Thomas at North Reading High School.