University of Georgia Athletics
NCAA Individual Brackets Released
May 24, 2016 | Women's Tennis
ATHENS, Ga. — Georgia's Caroline Brinson, Kennedy Shaffer, Ellen Perez and Mariana Gould learned of their respective NCAA Singles and Doubles opponents with the bracket release by the NCAA on Tuesday afternoon.
Brinson will get the singles tournament rolling for Georgia at Tulsa's Michael D. Case Tennis Complex as she faces Maegan Manasse of California on Wednesday at 11:30 a.m. ET. Manasse is seeded sixth overall in the tournament, and she went 17-8 in the spring, all on the top court. Brinson, who won the USTA/ITA Southeast Regional singles title in the fall, enters the singles bracket with a mark of 15-7 in the spring but recorded 31 wins on the year counting fall play. Against top-10 competition, Brinson is 2-1 on the year.
The winner will face either Tulsa's Saana Saarteinen or Yuliya Lysa of Arkansas in the round of 32.
Shaffer, who led UGA in dual wins (20) and match clinchers (seven) this spring, will face No. 41 Whitney Kay of North Carolina on Wednesday at 2:30 p.m. ET. Kay went 15-10 in dual play with a 14-10 record on the second singles court. In contrast, Shaffer had the upper hand in overall record (20-4) and second-court record (11-4) in dual play.
The winner of that match will advance to take on either Ronit Yurovsky of Michigan or Joana Vale Costa of LSU.
Perez, ranked fifth by the ITA, went 16-3 in dual play in the spring while playing on the top singles court for the Bulldogs. The Shellharbour, Australia native will face Columbia's Kanika Vaidya on Wednesday at 4:30 p.m. ET in the first round. Vaidya, the No. 43 singles player in the ITA rankings, went 19-1 in the spring highlighted by a January win over Anna Shkudun of Syracuse, ranked 37th at the time of the match.
The winner of that match will advance to face either Vanderbilt's Sydney Campbell or Oklahoma State's Katarina Adamovic. Perez defeated Campbell at the SEC Tournament 6-4, 6-0, but she fell to Adamovic in the teams' meeting in Tulsa in a tight 7-5, 7-6 battle.
On the doubles end, the pair of Perez and Gould will take on Kiah Generette and Blair Shankle of Baylor. The duos met during the Athens NCAA Regional, ending in a 4-4 stalemate. A time for the match on Thursday has yet to be announced.
The winner of that match will get either Katherine Ip/Emily Smith of Rice or Catherine Harrison/Kyle McPhillips of UCLA in the second round of the 32-pair tournament.
For all the latest on Georgia women's tennis, follow the team on Twitter (@UGAWomensTennis), Instagram (@ugawomenstennis) and on Facebook (Georgia Women's Tennis), and keep checking in to georgiadogs.com.
Schedule (all times Eastern)
Singles
Wednesday, May 25
Caroline Brinson v Maegan Manasse (California) – 11:30 a.m.
Kennedy Shaffer v Whitney Kay (North Carolina) – 2:30 p.m.
Ellen Perez v Kanika Vaidya (Columbia) – 4:30 p.m.
Doubles
Thursday, May 26
Ellen Perez/Mariana Gould – TBD
