Thursday, 10/13/2011

ATHENS, Ga. --- The Georgia women’s tennis team will play host to the Bulldog Tennis Classic Friday, a singles and doubles round-robin event.

A majority of the Bulldogs will be competing in the tournament at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex that features student-athletes from the University of Virginia, University of Michigan and West Virginia University. The field includes 13 nationally ranked singles players and six doubles teams. In singles, Georgia’s Chelsey Gullickson headlines the field at No. 9 while Virginia senior Lindsey Hardenbergh is No. 18. In doubles, the Cavaliers have the top two ranked teams in the field in Emily Fraser and Hana Tomlijanovic at No. 8 and Hardenbergh and Erin Vierra at No. 9. The 15th-ranked Bulldog duo of Gullickson and Nadja Gilchrist won a thrilling match over Fraser/Tomlijanovic 9-8(7-4) last Friday in the round of 16 at the Riviera/ITA All-American Championships in California. The Georgia tandem is 7-1 this fall.

This year, the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) released a top 10 freshmen/newcomer rankings, and three of them will be part of this weekend’s action. Virginia freshman Li Xi is No. 5, Bulldog freshman Lauren Herring is No. 7 and Michigan freshman Emina Bektas is No. 9. Herring is enjoying a solid collegiate start, posting a 7-1 singles record and 5-4 in doubles with sophomore Kate Fuller.

“We’ve got a great tournament with several talented players including some of the top freshmen,” said Georgia coach Jeff Wallace. “The fall is a time to develop your game and build your rankings, and everybody will have a chance to do that here with this field. It’s always nice to compete on your home courts because we’ve traveled a lot this fall and after this weekend, we’ll be back on the road.”

Georgia welcomes back former assistant coach Mark Guilbeau and All-American Tina Samara, both part of the 1994 NCAA Championship team, to Athens this weekend. Guilbeau is head coach of the Cavaliers while Samara is head coach of West Virginia. Guilbeau spent five seasons in Athens (1991-95) while Samara lettered from 1993-96. Along with the NCAA title, Guilbeau and Samara were a part of two squads (1994-95) that won the USTA/ITA National Team Indoors.

“It’s exciting when former players and coaches are back on campus, and I know they are looking forward to spending a weekend in Athens,” said Wallace. “They were a part of some championship teams here, and now they have gone to have success as head coaches too.”

Action gets underway Friday at 11 a.m., and the Bulldogs are slated to hit the courts for doubles at 2 p.m. and then singles at 3:30 p.m. On Saturday, Georgia will start with doubles at 10 a.m. and another round at 11:30 a.m. followed by singles at 2 p.m. On Sunday, there will be singles only beginning at 10 a.m. Admission is free all weekend.