April 7, 2011

UNCG (11-4, 6-0) vs. Georgia Southern (8-9, 2-6), April 8, 2:30 p.m., Hanner Tennis Complex
UNCG vs. College of Charleston (14-7, 6-0), April 10, 11 a.m., College of Charleston Tennis Center

Storylines:

- UNCG will look to keep its Southern Conference record perfect on Tuesday as the Spartans hit the road for a pair of crucial league matches. The Spartans will get their weekend road trip started on Friday at Georgia Southern with a 2:30 p.m. match before facing College of Charleston in a battle of first place teams on Sunday at 11 a.m.

- The Spartans were scheduled to celebrate Senior Day on Tuesday against Davidson, but the match was postponed due to inclement weather. A makeup date has not been scheduled as of this time.

- Last weekend, UNCG hit the road and came away with a pair of Southern Conference wins. In a battle of undefeated teams in the league on Saturday, UNCG scored a narrow 4-3 win over Furman. The Spartans carried that success into Sunday as they defeated Wofford by the same 4-3 score. UNCG is now in first place at 6-0 in the SoCon this season.

- Georgia Southern comes into the match with an 8-9 overall record and is 2-6 so far in the SoCon this season. The Eagles come into the match having lost four matches in a row, all coming against SoCon schools. Prior to that, Georgia Southern had won four matches in a row.

- College of Charleston is currently tied with the Spartans for first in the Southern Conference at 6-0 and also carries a 14-7 overall record. The Cougars are riding a seven-match winning streak, with five of those matches coming by a score of 7-0. The last time College of Charleston lost a match was on March 21 against No. 15 Clemson.

- Sophomore transfer Niltooli Wilkins has provided a spark for the Spartans from her No. 1 singles position. She is nearly perfect at 13-2 so far in the spring and has also teamed up with Lucy Dougherty in doubles to post an equally impressive 13-2 record.

- On Thursday, Wilkins was named the SoCon Player of the Month for the second time this season. She was previously named the Player of the Month in February before earning the same honor for March. Wilkins was also been named the SoCon Player of the Week two times this season. She was also honored as the SoCon Player of the Week on March 1 for her play against Chattanooga and Samford.

- Last Thursday, the Spartans hosted Charleston Southern at the Piedmont Indoor Tennis Center and came away with a 5-1 victory. UNCG swept all three doubles matches for the sixth time this season to take the early 1-0 lead. The Spartans would continue to cruise as they won four of the five singles matches. The final singles match was in the third set, but had to be called after the teams ran out of time at the indoor courts.

- On March 19-20, UNCG defeated Appalachian State, 7-0, on Saturday before cruising past Western Carolina on Sunday, 6-1, to move to a perfect 4-0 in the Southern Conference. The Spartans swept all of the doubles matches on both days and won 11 of a possible 12 singles matches.

- On March 16, UNCG suffered its first home defeat of the season as the Spartans fell to UNCW, 6-1. UNCG won the first doubles match, but narrowly dropped the other two, 8-6, to lose the doubles point. UNCG continued to falter in singles as it dropped five of the six matches, the lone win coming from Niltooli Wilkins at No. 1 singles.

- On March 7, UNCG easily defeated UNC Asheville on the road, 6-1. The Spartans swept the doubles points with relative ease, before winning five of the six singles matches. UNCG won at No. 6 singles due to a forfeit by the Bulldogs after having just five healthy players available.

- On Feb. 26-27, the Spartans opened Southern Conference play with a pair of victories. UNCG started things on Saturday by sweeping Chattanooga 7-0 and then defeated No. 74 Samford, 4-3, to move to 2-0 in the league. The Spartans took the doubles point and all six singles matches against the Mocs. UNCG won the deciding doubles point against the Bulldogs on Sunday before splitting the singles matches.

- Back on Feb. 16, UNCG traveled to Greenville, N.C. to face East Carolina in a nonconference tilt. The Spartans got the match started off on a good note by taking the doubles points, but fell behind in singles after dropping the first two matches. UNCG came storming back though to take the final four singles matches, all coming in three sets, to defeat the Pirates, 5-2.

- UNCG -