Univ. of Georgia Team Page
ATHENS, Ga.--The No. 9 Georgia women's tennis team will play its first SEC home matches of 2013 when they welcome No. 50 Ole Miss and Mississippi State. The Bulldogs will square off with the Rebels on Friday at 4:00 p.m. before facing Mississippi State on Sunday at 1:00 p.m.
The Bulldogs are 7-1 this season, having won its SEC opener last weekend against No. 57 Tennessee in Knoxville.
The matches will be held at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex and admission is free. Fans can also participate in the Live Tennis Match Chat on Georgiadogs.com.
MATCH POINTS: Georgia (7-1, 1-0) returns home to continue SEC play with bouts against Ole Miss (2-6, 0-2) and Mississippi State (5-4, 0-2). Georgia is 33-8 all-time against the Rebels, including 16-1 at home. The lone loss came in 1993. Georgia is a perfect 34-0 against Mississippi State. Entering the weekend, Georgia is just one of five schools that controls its own destiny for a conference title.
A LOOK AT THE OPPONENTS: Both Ole Miss and Mississippi State are coming off loses against Alabama and Auburn. For the Rebels, Carolina Rohde-Moe is the only ranked singles player at No. 39. The pair of Rohde-Moe and Marija Milutinovic are ranked No. 46 in doubles. Mississippi State has no ranked singles players or doubles pairs.
LAST TIME OUT: Last weekend, Georgia traveled to Knoxville, Tenn. and won it's SEC opener, 6-1. Georgia has won every SEC opener since the 1997 season. The freshman duo of Mia King and Makenzie Craft clinched the doubles point, and then Georgia followed with singles wins on courts 2-6.
TOP DOGS: Georgia is No. 9 in the latest ITA team poll, and has four ranked singles players and three ranked doubles pairs. Sophomore Lauren Herring and junior Maho Kowase anchor the top of the Bulldog lineup. Herring, who earned SEC Freshman of the Year honors in 2012, is ranked ninth nationally sporting a 24-4 record this year. The 15th-ranked Kowase has a 23-7 record. Junior Kate Fuller (No. 116), and freshman Silvia Garcia (No. 97) have been playing in the three and four sports. Fuller is 18-4 this year while Garcia is 10-1 and the winner of five straight.
In doubles, Fuller and Garcia, who are 9-0 this season, cracked the top ten in the latest rankings, and are the highest ranked Bulldog tandem at the No. 9 spot. Fuller is also ranked with Herring (No. 20). Kowase and Lilly Kimbell are ranked No. 34 with a 9-2 record.
GARCIA ON A ROLL: After going 6-0 in singles and doubles at the ITA National Team Indoor Championships, Silvia Garcia was named to the All-Tournament Team and garnered SEC women's tennis Freshman of the Week honors. The Madrid-native hasn't let up since National Indoors, now sporting a 10-1 in singles mark and a 10-0 in doubles record. She came in at No. 9 in the ITA Top-60 doubles rankings with junior Kate Fuller and cracked the top-100 in the singles rankings at No. 97.
SPRING BREAK?: As most of the UGA campus population leaves Athens for spring break, the Georgia women's tennis team is preparing to play five matches over the next nine days, including four teams in the Top-50.
ON DECK: Georgia will host No. 15 Notre Dame on Tuesday afternoon before traveling to Gainesville and Columbia for two critical SEC road matches against No. 5 Florida and No. 35 South Carolina. The Bulldogs are 6-0 all time against the Irish, with its last win being a 4-2 win at the 2008 National Team Indoors.
DID YOU KNOW? Georgia is one of three schools to have both its women's and men's tennis programs currently ranked in the top 10. The Georgia men's team is ranked No. 9. The others are Duke and UCLA.
FOLLOWING GEORGIA WOMEN'S TENNIS: Fans can stay connected with Georgia women's tennis by following @UGAWomensTennis on Twitter, Liking Georgia Women's Tennis on Facebook and following along each match through a live blog on Georgiadogs.com.
