Eagles Draw Davidson to Open SoCon Championship
4/18/2012 12:44:00 PM | Women's Tennis
STATESBORO, Ga. – The Georgia Southern Women's Tennis team will begin its quest in the Southern Conference Championship on Thursday morning in Charleston. The eighth-seeded Eagles will look to down ninth-seeded Davidson in their first round matchup set to take place at 9 a.m. Women's Tennis matches on Thursday will take place at the College of Charleston Tennis Center, home of the Cougars.
The Eagles (5-14, 2-8 SoCon) were awarded the eighth seed in the draw after a three-way tie for eighth with Davidson and Wofford was broken using the third tiebreaking procedure, best overall team score. Georgia Southern is looking to open the SoCon Championship with a win for its second-consecutive season and make the quarterfinals for the sixth time in the eight-year reign of Head Coach Amy Bonner. As the seventh seed last year, the Eagles downed Western Carolina by a 4-0 score before falling to second-seeded UNC Greensboro in the quarterfinals. The Eagle squad is led at the No. 1 singles position by Paola Garrido (Vigo, Spain), fresh off her selection to the SoCon Singles First Team All-Conference on Tuesday afternoon. Junior Allison Beeler (Alpharetta, Ga.) is second on the team with eight singles victories, while Caitlin Kitchen (Kennesaw, Ga.), Alessandra Dzuba (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.) and Natalie Maffett (Rome, Ga.) add to the veteran cast trotted out by the Eagles with SoCon Championship experience. Newcomers on the scene Alexis Prickett (Charleston, S.C.) and Mimi Bollaci (Atlanta, Ga.) will look to make their mark and give the squad a spark to put them over the top.
The Eagles will first square off against the Wildcats of Davidson. Davidson, also 2-8 in SoCon play, went 5-18 overall during the regular season. The Eagles downed Davidson by a 4-2 score in their regular season meeting held in Statesboro on March 31. Garrido, Beeler, Dzuba and Maffett notched singles victories on the afternoon, while doubles play was not played due to iffy weather conditions and the match's outcome having already been decided. Three-time defending champion College of Charleston and top-seeded UNC Greensboro are considered the tournament's early favorites, but it's anybody's ballgame, and the SoCon Championship is there for the taking.
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