Earning their place as one of the top three teams in the West Division of the American Southwest Conference, the HPU women’s tennis team is headed to the ASC Championships in Tyler this weekend.

The Texas-Tyler women went 6-0 in American Southwest Conference East Division play to earn the right to host the 2012 ASC Tennis Championships on Friday-Sunday (April 27-29) at Summers Tennis Center and Tyler Tennis and Swim Club in Tyler, Texas.

The hosting rights of the ASC championships – which features both the women and the men – rotates each year. The women’s and men’s ASC champion will each earn the conference’s automatic bids into their respective NCAA Division III Tennis Championships.

Live statistics will be available throughout the event as well as selected live video streaming and video highlights. The links can be found on the conference’s website, www.ASCsports.org, and the official championships website, www.uttylerpatriots.com.

Women’s head coach Chris Bizot and four-time defending conference champion Texas-Tyler (16-4, 6-0 ASC), who won their seventh straight ASC East Division title and have not lost a division match since 2005, earned a first-round bye in the six-team, single-elimination tournament. On Saturday at 1:30 p.m. on its home court, UT Tyler will play the winner of West No. 2 seed Mary Hardin-Baylor (11-5, 5-1 ASC) and East No. 3 seed Mississippi College (6-9, 4-2 ASC), who square off at 1:30 p.m. Friday at Summers Tennis Center.

Head coach Mark Hathorn and first-time West Division champion McMurry women (11-6, 6-0 ASC), who hoisted the league championship trophy once in 1999, also earned a first-round bye and will wait until Saturday at 1:30 p.m. at Tyler Tennis and Swim Club to get Friday’s 1:30 p.m. winner at Tyler Tennis and Swim Club between East No. 2 seed Texas-Dallas (11-2, 5-1 ASC) and West No. 3 seed Howard Payne (7-14, 4-2 ASC).

Both the women’s and men’s semifinal winners will face off for the titles on Sunday at Summers Tennis Center. The men will start at 1 p.m. and the women will begin 30 minutes following the conclusion of that match.

NOTES:  Free admission.  Official tournament T-shirts will be available for $15, while souvenir programs will be $2.  This is the 16th year of the ASC Championships.   Returning female all-tournament performers from 2011 are Ashley Albro, Jessica Blundell and Morgan Wilkins of Texas-Tyler, Jean-Jean Gwo of Texas-Dallas, and twin sisters Malloy and Megan Aarhus of Mary Hardin-Baylor.  The same school has won both the men’s and women’s ASC title for 10 straight years (Texas-Tyler from 2008-11, Hardin-Simmons from 2002-2007) and 11 overall (HSU in 1998, MC in 2000).  The West Division leads the East in ASC men’s titles 9-6, while the West Division leads the East in women’s titles 10-5. . . Directions to Summers Tennis Center and Fan information for Tyler, Texas, can be found here: http://www.uttylerpatriots.com/maps/default/. Directors to Tyler Tennis and Swim Club can be found here: http://www.tylertsc.com/web/.

2012 AMERICAN SOUTHWEST CONFERENCE

TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS

April 27-29 / Summers Tennis Center & Tyler Tennis and Swim Club / Tyler, Texas

-Women’s Seeds-

East Division: #1 Texas-Tyler (16-4, 6-0 ASC), #2 Texas-Dallas (11-2, 5-1 ASC), #3 Mississippi College (6-9, 4-2 ASC)

West Division: #1 McMurry (11-6, 6-0 ASC), #2 Mary Hardin-Baylor (11-5, 5-1 ASC), #3 Howard Payne (7-14, 4-2 ASC)

WOMEN’S TOURNAMENT

Friday, April 27

Quarterfinals

Match 1: Texas-Dallas (E2) vs. Howard Payne (W3), 1:30 p.m., TTSC

Match 2: Mary Hardin-Baylor (W2) vs. Mississippi College (E3), 1:30 p.m. Summers

Saturday, April 28

Semifinals

Match 3: McMurry (W1) vs. Winner of Match 1 [UTD/HPU], 1:30 p.m., TTSC

Match 4: Texas-Tyler (E1) vs. Winner of Match 2 [UMHB/MC], 1:30 p.m., Summers

Sunday, April 29

Championship

Match 5: Winner of Match 3 vs. Winner of Match 4, 30 minutes after men’s final, Summers