Univ. of Georgia Team Page
ATHENS, Ga.—Georgia sophomore Lauren Herring and junior Maho Kowase earned bids to the NCAA singles championships, and the top-ranked duo of junior Kate Fuller and Silvia Garcia earned a bid to the NCAA doubles championships. The NCAA Championships will be held May 22-27 in Champaign, Illinois at the Atkins Tennis Center.
In the singles draw, Herring earned the No. 6 seed. On the doubles side, Fuller and Garcia earned the No. 1 seed. Because Herring is a top-16 seed in the singles tournament and Fuller and Garcia are a top-eight seed on the doubles tournament, each earns ITA All-America honors. Georgia hasn’t three All-Americans in the year since the 2007 season.
The complete draw will be released during the team portion of the NCAA Tournament.
Herring is 35-5 this season, including 22-4 against ranked opponents. The lone Bulldog sophomore has seven wins over Top-30 opponents. Kowase, who leads the team this season with eight match clinchers, is 35-8, including 12-0 during the SEC regular season—the most wins of anyone in the SEC during conference play.
The tandem of Fuller and Garcia, who earned the SEC automatic qualifier into the tournament, are 21-2 this season, and have won nine of their previous ten matches. They’re 9-2 versus ranked opponents this season, having beaten five in the top-10. The pair has been ranked inside the top-15 since Feb. 26.
Georgia has had three NCAA individual singles champions: Lisa Spain in 1984, Angela Lettiere in 1994 and Chelsey Gullickson in 2010. Shannan McCarthy was the runner-up in 1992. No Georgia pairing has ever won the NCAA doubles championship, but Bulldog teams have reached the finals four times, including Gullickson and Nadja Gilchrist in 2012.
Georgia will play host to first and second round action of the NCAA team tournament May 11-12. The Bulldogs received the No. 4 overall seed and will face Winthrop in the first round on Sat., May 11 at 12:00 p.m. at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex.
