Huge Round of 16 Women's Match Today at NCAA's in Athens

Duke's Beatrice Capra

Florida Junior Lauren EmbreeIt's a match that could've made a good finals.  It features two players with quite a bit of professional tournament experience.  Both players are members of two of the top college teams in the land.

It will be one of the feature matches of the tournament today when Duke's Beatrice Capra takes on Florida's Lauren Embree this morning at 11 am in the round of 16 of the NCAA Women's Singles draw.

No. 2 ranked Capra survived a tough match against Lindsey Hardenbergh on Thursday to advance.

"It was a really tough match," Capra said. "She definitely made me work to win that match today. I think in the first set, I did a good job of stepping up and moving forward in the court. In the second set, she made me play a lot more balls and I was kind of on the defense. I knew what I needed to do to win that match in the third set and I just did it."

Embree has won 20 consecutive matches and just led her Florida Gator team to the team championship.  She has a 31-5 mark on the season, and I'm puzzled why she is only seeded in the 9-16 range.

This should be a close two-set match or a tough three setter.  Even though Capra is favored, I wouldn't be surprised to see Embree win.

Could this be the last collegiate match for one or both of these players.  Embree has said she is coming back for her senior campaign, but you never know.

Looking forward to this one.