When the GW women’s tennis team’s only senior Michele Style predicted that her team would “definitely” win the Atlantic 10 tournament after the Colonials beat Towson in their home finale, not many people took her seriously. After fifth-seeded GW’s run to the program’s first A-10 tournament championship match since 1997 Sunday ended with a loss to defending champion Richmond, Style’s prediction was proved wrong, but not by much.

The Colonials began the weekend Friday by handling 12-seed St. Bonaventure 4-0, including a straight sweep of the three doubles matches. GW advanced again later that day when it defeated Duquesne 4-2, avenging a 7-0 sweep at the hands of the Dukes earlier this year.

Saturday, the Colonials beat ninth seeded Charlotte in the conference semifinals, just one day after the 49ers’ upset of top-seeded Xavier. Sophomore Jacqueline Corba won the decisive match for GW, her seventh straight victory in singles play.

The Colonials’ surprising run came to an end Sunday against the Spiders, when GW was dropped 4-0 by last year’s champs. The Colonials lost the doubles point, and then dropped the Nos. two, three and four singles matches, ending GW’s season with a second-place finish in the A-10.

The Colonials’ run was especially surprising in light of how the team closed out the regular season, going 1-3 in the month of April leading up to the conference tournament. GW finished the season right at .500, going 11-11 overall and 3-2 in conference play.

GW will return nine of 10 players next year, including Corba, who was a co-captain of the team this year with the Colonials’ lone senior, Style.