February 15, 2011

UNCG (1-1) at East Carolina (2-0), Feb. 16, 3 p.m., Greenville, N.C.

Storylines:

- Coming off a 5-2 win against Coastal Carolina in its home opener, UNCG returns to competition on Wednesday as it travels down to Greenville, N.C. to face off against East Carolina at 3 p.m.

- On Feb. 5, the Spartans hosted Coastal Carolina at the Piedmont Indoor Tennis Center for their home opener. UNCG swept all three doubles matches to claim the early lead on the doubles point. Coastal Carolina would claim the first singles match to tie the match at one, but UNCG then won three matches in a row to clinch the win for the Spartans. The two teams split the final two singles matches as the Spartans came out victorious, 5-2.

- The Pirates are currently 2-0 on the year with a pair of wins against Southern Conference teams. ECU opened its season with a 6-1 win at Davidson on Feb. 1 and then swept Appalachian State at home, 7-0, on Feb. 5. In those two matches, the Pirates have won 11 of a possible 12 points in a singles and have won all six doubles matches, as well.

- On Sunday, Jan. 30, the Spartans traveled up to Blacksburg, Va. to face ACC foe Virginia Tech for their first match of the spring season. The teams fought hard for the doubles point to start the afternoon as it all came down to No. 3 doubles. Virginia Tech was able to get a break with that match tied at six to go on and win the match, 8-6, to give the Hokies the point. In singles, Niltooli Wilkins, competing at No. 1 singles, was the lone winner for the Spartans as she scored a 7-6 (7-5), 6-2 victory.

- The Pirates are coming off an 18-10 mark in 2010 and return eight of their 10 players from last season. ECU also returns starters at No. 1, 2, 3 and 4 singles, who accounted for 76 percent of the team's singles wins a season ago.

- Last season, the Spartans went 10-11 during the spring season. UNCG also had a 4-6 mark in Southern Conference matches to finish in seventh place as a team.

- At the conclusion of the season, the Spartans earned plenty of awards from the Southern Conference. Alex Whitehead was named second-team All-SoCon at the No. 1 singles position, while Annette Rios claimed second-team honors at No. 5 singles. Whitehead also teamed up with Mikayla Rogers to earn second-team All-SoCon at No. 3 doubles.

- Whitehead and Rios weren't done collecting postseason hardware as the duo were both named to the Southern Conference All-Freshman Team after the year was over.

- The Spartans received a boost during the fall portion of their schedule from Niltooli Wilkins, a sophomore transfer from Minnesota. Wilkins went 11-5 during the fall in singles competition, including victories in her first six matches as a Spartan.

- Perhaps the greatest win for UNCG in the fall was Wilkins' defeat over Hilary Bartlett from Pinceton, who was ranked 49^th in the nation at the time, 2-6, 6-3, 1-0 (10-7), at the Kitty Harrison Invitational.

- UNCG found success earlier this season at the Air Force Invitational at the beginning of October. Whitehead teamed up with Stephanie Macfarlane to earn runner-up honors in doubles, while Wilkins claimed runner-up honors  in singles at the event.

- The Spartans also had tremendous success as they hosted the Spartans Doubles Challenge. UNCG went 16-4 overall at the event with Wilkins and Whitehead winning the Navy group, while Devon Sutherland and Dilara Yurtkuran claimed top honors in the Gold group.

- At the UVA Fall Invitational back in September Whitehead and Macfarlane were able to come home with third place honors in the doubles bracket.

- UNCG -