ATHENS, Ga.—The No. 3 Georgia women’s tennis team wraps up its regular season home slate this weekend, playing No. 59 LSU on Friday at 4:00 p.m. and No. 50 Arkansas on Sunday at 1:00 p.m.

 

Prior to Sunday’s match, senior Kelli Jordan will be honored for Senior Day. Jordan, a native of Tifton, Ga., has been on the team for four years.

 

Fans can follow the live scoring and watch the live video, as well as participate in the Live Tennis Match Chat on Georgiadogs.com.

 

The matches will be held at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex and admission is free.

 

MATCH POINTS: Georgia returns to the Dan Magill Tennis Complex for its final home-stand of the season, playing No. 59 LSU on Friday at 4 p.m. and No. 50 Arkansas on Sunday at 1 p.m. Georgia improved to No. 3 in the latest rankings released Tuesday by the ITA. The ranking is Georgia’s highest since the final rankings of the 2009 season. That year, the Bulldogs won the SEC regular season, the SEC tournament, and reached the national semifinals.

Prior to Sunday’s match, senior Kelli Jordan will be honored for Senior Day. Jordan has been on the team for four years and helped the Bulldogs to four NCAA Tournaments, including two quarterfinal appearances.

 

A LOOK AT THE OPPONENTS: Georgia hosts conference foes LSU and Arkansas in its final two regular season home matches. Georgia holds a 35-4 all-time record against LSU and hasn’t lost to the Tigers since 1985. Burns (114) is the only ranked player for LSU.  The Bulldogs are 23-3 in their series with Arkansas, last having lost in 2008. Pang (47) and Paulson (97) are both ranked for Arkansas.

 

LAST TIME OUT: Georgia went 2-0 last weekend, beating No. 58 Missouri and No. 3 Texas A&M. The Texas A&M match lasted nearly seven hours (with a two-hour rain delay), but Georgia won the doubles point and three singles matches to clinch the win. Sophomore Lauren Herring beat fifth-ranked Cristina Sanchez-Quintanar 6-2, 6-4. Sanchez-Quintanar is the highest-ranked opponent that Herring has beaten this year. Freshman Mia King picked up her third match-clincher of the season. For Georgia, the win was its first over a top-five team since beating second-ranked Cal in February of 2009.  

 

TOP DOGS: Georgia has three ranked singles players and four 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 eighth nationally sporting a 30-5 record this year. The 18th-ranked Kowase has a 31-7 record and has won nine consecutive matches. Freshman Silvia Garcia, ranked 86th in the country has been playing at the three and four spots and is 17-2 this season and the winner of nine of her last ten singles bouts.

In doubles, Fuller and Garcia, who are 14-0 this season, are ranked fourth nationally. Fuller is also ranked with Herring (No. 35). Kowase and Lilly Kimbell are ranked No. 55 with a 9-3 record. Georgia’s court two duo of Herring and Kowase cracked the latest rankings at No. 59. Since August, Georgia has played 12 different doubles pairings.

 

WALLACE CLOSING IN ON HISTORIC MILESTONE: Women’s tennis head coach Jeff Wallace enters this weekend just two wins shy of his 600th career win. Now in his 28th season at the helm, Wallace has compiled a 598-148 record  and remains the winningest active coach in women’s college tennis. He would be one of three women’s tennis coaches to reach the 600-win plateau, and would be one of five active collegiate tennis coaches (of men or women) to reach the mark. He would also become just the fifth coach in UGA’s history to reach the 600-win mark (A. Landers, 905, S. Yoculan, 834, L. Harris-Champer, 833, D. Magill, 706).

 

KEEPING IT FRESH: Three freshmen have had stellar starts to their Bulldog careers. After ITA National Team Indoors, Silvia Garcia was named to the All-Tournament Team and garnered SEC women’s tennis Freshman of the Week honors. She now sports a 16-2 record in singles and a 15-1 in doubles record. She came in at No. 4 in the ITA Top-60 doubles rankings with junior Kate Fuller and is ranked No. 86 in singles.

Freshmen Mia King and Makenzie Craft have also been clutch in singles on courts 5 and 6. King has clinched two matches for Georgia this spring while compiling a 8-5 record. Craft is 7-3 so far this spring.

 

KATE THE GREAT: With her 30 doubles wins this year, Kate Fuller has moved into eighth place for most doubles wins in a single season at Georgia. Fuller’s 32 wins in 2012 put her into a tie for fourth, but she’ll have at least six more opportunities for wins this season. Chelsey Gullickson set the record with 35 last season.

 

HERRING GRABS BIG WIN: Eighth-ranked Herring beat Texas A&M’s fifth-ranked Cristina Sanchez-Quintanar 6-2, 6-4 on Sunday. Sanchez-Quintanar is the highest-ranked opponent that Herring has beaten this year, and is the 17th ranked opponent that she’s beaten this year.

 

FOLLOWING GEORGIA WOMEN’S TENNIS: Fans are able to follow each match through a live blog on Georgiadogs.com. See the website for more details. After the match, fans can check Georgiadogs.com for post-match highlights and interviews. Fans can also “Like” Georgia Women’s Tennis on Facebook and follow @UGAWomensTennis on Twitter for bonus exclusive content.

 

DID YOU KNOW? Georgia is one of four 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. 4. The others are Duke, UCLA and Southern California.