Women?s Tennis Opens Conference Play against WCU
2/29/2012 3:54:00 PM | Women's Tennis
STATESBORO, Ga. – The Georgia Southern Women's Tennis team returns to Statesboro for a stretch of home matches this week. The Eagles will begin conference play on Thursday when they host Western Carolina at 2 p.m. The week's matches will conclude when Florida A&M visits Hanner Tennis Complex on Saturday at 3 p.m.
“We have faced strong competition in both our fall season and this spring,” said Head Coach Amy Bonner. “All of these match experiences, whether it be through winning or losing, will help us prepare for our Southern Conference competition. Now that the first SoCon match is here, we are looking forward to competing and starting out strong.”
The Eagles (2-4) are looking to rebound after consecutive losses to South Carolina State and Florida Atlantic. The tough non-conference opponents sport an impressive 12-1 combined record on their seasons. Paola Garrido (Vigo, Spain) won her team-leading fifth singles match on Saturday over FAU. She also leads the team with four doubles victories. Caitlin Kitchen (Kennesaw, Ga.) is next with three doubles wins, while she also has two singles wins, tying her for third-best on the team with Allison Beeler (Alpharetta, Ga.). Cameron Williams (Norcross, Ga.) sits in second place with three singles victories.
The Western Carolina Catamounts are 0-4 on the season. The Eagles hope to continue their undefeated all-time record against the Catamounts which stands at 24-0. The Eagles defeated the Catamounts twice last season including a first-round matchup in the SoCon tournament. Garrido picked up two singles wins during last year's action, while Beeler picked up a singles win against the Catamounts in 2010.
Non-conference foe Florida A&M is also 0-4 on the season. The Eagles are 7-4 all-time against the Lady Rattlers including wins in each of the previous five meetings. Last year's match was a 6-1 victory for the Eagles behind singles wins from Natalie Maffett (Rome, Ga.) and Alexandra Langmo (Boca Raton, Fla.).
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