Friday, 04/15/2011

ATHENS-----Eighth-ranked Georgia looks to clinch the No. 2 seed for the Southeastern Conference Tournament Saturday at noon when it faces 16th-ranked Tennessee in Knoxville.

The Bulldogs (15-2, 9-1 SEC) conclude the regular season against the Lady Vols (16-6, 8-2 SEC). The winner of Saturday’s match will be the No. 2 seed in next week’s SEC Tournament (April 21-24) that will be held in Knoxville. Top-ranked Florida has clinched the SEC regular season title and the top seed. Alabama (14-5) has claimed the Western Division title with a 7-3 SEC record. Teams for the SEC Tournament are seeded 1-12 based on their conference record regardless of division. Earlier this week, the No. 23 Crimson Tide posted a 5-2 win over the Lady Vols. Georgia holds a 42-6 edge in the series with Tennessee. The Lady Vols won 4-2 last year in Athens.

In the latest Intercollegiate Tennis rankings, Georgia has four players in the Top 125 of singles and two doubles teams. Junior Chelsey Gullickson is No. 35, junior Nadja Gilchrist is No. 59, senior Cameron Ellis is No. 67 with freshmen Maho Kowase at No. 91 and Alexandra Anghelescu at No. 111. Kowase leads the Bulldogs with a 28-9 record including 7-2 in SEC action. Ellis is 27-5 including 9-1 in league play.  She is on pace to become the school record holder for most combined wins in singles and doubles. Ellis ranks tied for third with 219, just three behind Naoko Ueshima who tallied a record 222 from 2007-10.  Ellis is 118-34 in singles and 101-51 in doubles as a Bulldog.

In doubles, the ninth-ranked team of Gullickson and Kate Fuller are 14-3 overall, 8-2 in the SEC. Also, the team of Gilchrist and Lilly Kimbell is No. 48 with a 9-4 overall mark, 5-1 in the SEC.

Tennessee has three players ranked in the top 125 starting with  Natalie Pluskota at No. 32 along with Brynn Boren (No. 44) and Rosalia Alda (No. 113).  The Lady Vols top doubles team is Pluskota and Millie Nichols. They are ranked No. 44 and are 9-4 this year. The unranked tandem of Jennifer Meredith and Kata Szekely have been close to automatic for the Lady Vols, registering a 19-1 record this year including 18-1 at No. 3.