The women’s tennis team expected to face No. 1 seed Richmond in the Atlantic 10 Championships finals but tripped over Xavier along the way, pushing the women to a third place finish at this weekend’s tournament in College Park, Md.

Second-seeded GW took two of three matches, beating Dayton 4-0 Sunday morning to finish in third place. Richmond won the Atlantic 10 title in its first year in the A-10 conference, and Xavier took second.

“We were upset about our defeat by Xavier,” head coach Helen Andrews said. “But all the girls kept a good attitude, and we are happy to be going home with third place in the tournament.”

Senior Katarina Stastny said she expected her team to do better.

“We went into the tournament feeling really good. We were feeling strong and knew we could give Richmond a run for their money,” she said.

GW had beaten No. 3 Xavier earlier in the season but could not match the Musketeers Saturday.

“Xavier played some very good tennis, and we just weren’t playing up to our potential that day,” Stastny said.

GW won only two of six singles matches, notching only two points in the 4-2 loss. Xavier also took the doubles point, winning at No. 1 and 2 doubles. GW’s only victories came at No. 4 singles, where Stastny defeated Xavier’s Emily Senich 6-3, 6-4, and Selva Gonca, defeated Xavier’s Lindsay Dressman 6-2, 6-0 at No. 5 singles.

Andrews said despite the loss, she was impressed with the strength of her senior captain, Stastny, who has been undefeated at No. 4 singles in her last 11 matches.

“Kat was especially mentally tough the second half of the season,” Andrews said.

GW advanced to play Xavier with a 4-0 win over Temple Friday in the first round of tournament play. The match was decided in singles play with Lindy First defeating Lauren Verrall in No. 3 singles, Stastny defeating Rene Deyzel in No. 4 singles.