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Spartans to face GWU at UNCG Tennis Courts on Tuesday
UNCG (2-2) vs. Gardner-Webb (3-2), Feb. 21, 2 p.m., UNCG Tennis Courts
Storylines
- UNCG's women's tennis team will play at the UNCG Tennis Courts for the first time this season when the Spartans host Gardner-Webb on Tuesday at 2 p.m.
- Both teams are coming off wins over East Carolina. The Spartans topped the Pirates at the Piedmont Indoor Tennis Center on Feb. 11, 6-1, while the Runnin' Bulldogs downed ECU 4-3 in Boiling Springs, N.C., on Saturday.
- In the win over the Pirates, UNCG swept through doubles play and straight-sets wins from Niltooli Wilkins, Lucy Dougherty, Annette Rios and Stephanie Falcon. Alex Whitehead was also a singles winner, bouncing back from a first-set loss to claim the win in a super tiebreaker.
- UNCG will try to get over .500 for the first time on the season after opening with losses to then-No. 4 North Carolina and Indiana and taking wins over UNC Asheville and ECU.
- Wilkins and Falcon pace UNCG in singles wins with 13 each so far, including fall matches. Wilkins is 13-6 overall, while Falcon is 13-4. In doubles play, Falcon and Devon Sutherland are 7-3 together, while Whitehead and Dilara Yurtkuran are 6-3. Wilkins and Dougherty, who were ranked 40th nationally in doubles earlier in the season, are 11-6 so far on the season with a 2-1 dual mark.
- Since the 2010 season, UNCG is 18-5 at home, including a 5-0 record in matches at Piedmont Indoor. The Spartans are 13-5 at the UNCG Tennis Courts in that span.
- Gardner-Webb is 3-2 on the young season, with wins over ECU, Erskine and Presbyterian and losses to Davidson and Elon. The Spartans will be the third Southern Conference team the Runnin' Bulldogs will face this season.
- In Saturday's win over ECU, GWU got wins from Ioana Oprea and Jenny Lunde at No. 1 doubles and Alice Hopkins and Yasmin Doost at No. 2 to win the doubles point. Erica White, Hopkins and Oprea won at Nos. 1-3 singles, respectively, to give the Runnin' Bulldogs the win, with Hopkins clinching the match with a three-set win at No. 2.
- UNCG and GWU both competed at the USTA/ITA Regional Championships in Chapel Hill, N.C., in October, but no one from either squad faced each other.
- The last time the teams faced each other, GWU took a 5-2 win in Boiling Springs on April 15 of last season. With the SoCon tournament and a rescheduled match against league foe Davidson looming, UNCG elected to rest several players, sending only four to the match. Spotted a match in doubles, GWU went on to claim the point. UNCG also defaulted at Nos. 5 and 6 in singles, but Yurtkuran, playing up two flights, took a win at No. 2 and Mikayla Rogers, playing up three flights, won at No. 3. White won for GWU at No. 1 and Ronia Hutterli won at No. 4.
- Next up for the Spartans after GWU, UNCG will host Richmond at Piedmont Indoor Tennis Center on Saturday at 10 a.m.
- UNCG -
