USF women's tennis team is seeded third at this week's West Coast Conference Championships and will face No. 6 seeded Gonzaga in a quarterfinal match on Thursday at 12 noon at the Barnes Tennis Center in San Diego.
 
The winner of the USF-Gonzaga match will advance to face the winner of the No. 7 Santa Clara/No. 10 Loyola Marymount vs. No. 2 Portland match in Friday's semifinals beginning at 10:00 a.m.
 
On the other side of the bracket, No. 1 seed Pepperdine will await the winner of the match between No. 8 Pacific and tournament host and No. 9 San Diego seed for a quarterfinal match-up on Thursday. The other quarterfinal will pit No. 4 seed Saint Mary's against No. 5 seed BYU in match six beginning at 12 noon.
 
The championship match is set for 10:00 a.m. on Saturday.
 
USF finished the regular season with a 12-9 overall record and earned its highest tournament seeding ever by compiling a 7-2 mark in conference play. The Dons finished in a three-way tie with Portland and Saint Mary's for second place in the WCC standings, but the Pilots earned the No. 2 seed by virtue of their 4-3 victory over the Dons on March 17. USF had the edge in the tiebreaker with the Gaels after downing their Bay Area rival, 4-3 in a thrilling match at the Olympic Club on April 11.
 
USF's seven conference wins were its highest total since the WCC adopted the round robin format in 2011-12. Prior to this season, the Dons had not finished higher than fifth in the conference standings. A program on the rise, USF is 42-26 in dual match competition over the last three seasons. A win over Gonzaga on Thursday would earn the Dons their first-ever WCC Championship semifinal appearance.
 
"It's been a good season with a lot of 'firsts' for our program," said head coach Hilary Somers. "We beat a few teams we hadn't beaten in years and it's great to see the bar getting higher and higher for our program. We have a talented group who are working hard to get better every day."
 
Top-seeded Pepperdine, 14-6 overall and 8-1 in WCC play, has won a conference-best 24 titles, including 17 in the dual match format, which was first adopted in 1995. The Waves bid for an undefeated conference season fell by the wayside last Saturday when they were upset at Saint Mary's, 6-1, as the Gaels claimed five out of the six singles matches after winning the doubles point.
 
Despite Pepperdine's dominance over the years, Somers sees more parity in the conference than ever before.
 
"It is so close with all of these teams," she said. "It comes down to home vs. away, indoors vs. outdoors, who has the better day and who has the confidence to embrace the pressure and close out matches. It makes it very exciting. The third seed is our highest ever but we know the teams seeded below us are just as tough as the ones seeded above us. I expect a lot of battles this week which makes for a great tournament."
 
USF will look for a second win over Gonzaga in less than a week after the Dons claimed a hard-fought, 4-3 victory in Spokane last Friday. The outcome of the match hung in the balance until Sofia Holmberg gutted out a three-set victory over Franziska Koehler at No. 6 singles to clinch the match for the Dons. USF has had the upper hand in the all-time series against Gonzaga, winning 11 of 15 dual matches, which includes a 7-4 mark in WCC Championship competition. The Dons have won the last nine meetings between the two schools, which includes a 4-0 triumph in the first round of last year's WCC Championships.
 
"They will be hungry to play us again, no doubt about that," said Somers. "We are eager to play them outdoors. Our girls need to trust their games and continue to be really tough in pressure situations."
 
USF is no stranger to playing pressure-packed matches. Five out of the Dons nine conference matches were decided by just one point.
 
Junior Andrea Ka, a first team All-WCC singles performer last year, enters the WCC Championships on a roll, having won her last five dual matches, excluding her match against No. 20 Klara Fabikova of Cal, which was suspended. Ka is 25-5 on the season and her only loss to a WCC opponent came at the hands of Pepperdine's Lorraine Guillermo, the nation's 10th-ranked player at the time of the match.
 
"Andrea has had a tremendous season as our No. 1 singles player, she never has an easy match. She takes on the opponent's best each time out. You can never have an off day at the No. 1 position in the lineup."