BOSTON – UMBC will host the 2016 America East Women's Tennis Championships at Wilde Lake Tennis Club in Columbia, Md.,Friday-Sunday, April 22-24.

Action begins on Friday with an opening round match between No. 4 Binghamton and No. 5 Hartford at 1 p.m. The winner of that match will face top-seeded Albany in the first semifinal match Saturday at 10 a.m. No. 2 Stony Brook and third-seeded UMBC will square off in the second semifinal at 2 p.m. The 2016 champion will be crowned Sunday at 12 p.m. 

The seeds were determined by a ranking of the league's head coaches based on the criteria of head-to-head competition, common opponents, strength of schedule and overall record.

UMBC won two of three matches against league foes in 2016, defeating Hartford, 7-0, and Binghamton, 5-2, before dropping a narrow 4-3 decision to Stony Brook on March 26. The Retrievers come into the championships off a 6-1 victory over Mount St. Mary's on April 15 to complete the regular season at 4-8.

Freshman Maria Siopacha produced an outstanding campaign for the Retrievers, holding down the No. 1 singles spot and tied for the team lead with 11 total match victories (5-6 singles, 6-5 doubles). Two-time America East All-Conference doubles honoree senior Shannon Cleary combined with multiple partners to finish at 5-5 in doubles and also earned five singles victories.

Junior Mariami Dolashvili, a 2015 All-Conference performer in singles and doubles, just returned from injury and won in her first match in over a month versus the Mount in singles competition.

Stony Brook (9-6) has won the last four America East titles.