Top-Seeded Georgia Eager to Start NCAAs

Saturday, May 4

Athens, Ga.

12:00 PM

University of Georgia

Alabama State University

Photo by: Kristin M. Bradshaw

May 03, 2019 | Women's Tennis

Team Bracket Notes

Postseason Notes and Bracket Attached*
*Saturday Time Change* 9 a.m. Wake Forest vs. Austin Peay; 12 p.m. Georgia vs. Alabama State
Tournament Page: http://www.gado.gs/2is
*Tickets : Admission tickets for first and second rounds in Athens are $5 per day for adults and $3 per day for youth (college age and younger). All tickets can be purchased at the gate beginning one hour prior to the first match each day.

Top-Seeded Georgia Eager to Start NCAAs

ATHENS, Ga. —  The top-seeded University of Georgia women's tennis team begins its play in the 2019 NCAA Tournament Saturday at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex.

Georgia (23-1) takes on unseeded Alabama State (13-8) at 12 p.m. ET on the Henry Feild Courts. It marks the 33^rd-straight appearance in the NCAA Tournament for Georgia and its second time with a No. 1-seeding since the bracket expanded to 64 teams in 1999.

"It is a huge honor to be able to play the first few rounds here at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex," Georgia head coach Jeff Wallace said. "When we started the year, we talked about playing host here and now we have been selected the No. 1-seed overall. We are excited about that, but we know that everybody can play and that we have a target on our back since the Indoors [ITA National Team Indoor Championships]. For the most part, we've handled it well, so we just have to get excited for what is in front of us."

The SEC regular season champion Bulldogs are battling the Lady Hornets, who won the Southwestern Athletic Conference, to see who will advance to Sunday's second-round matchup against either No. 22-ranked Wake Forest or Austin Peay – the champion of the Ohio Valley Conference. Sunday's match time is slated for 2 p.m. ET.

Georgia NCAA Tournament Notebook

Dawgs in the Tournament
Record: 79-30; 2 Titles (1994, 2000); 33-straight appearances dating back to 1987
First & Second Rounds: Georgia is 34-2 in the first two rounds since the NCAA Women's Tennis Championships expanded to 64 teams in 1999. This marks the ninth-straight time Georgia has played host to the first two rounds and 18th time overall. When playing in Athens, Georgia is 34-0 in the first two rounds.
No. 1 Seeds: Georgia grabbed the true No. 1 seed for the second time since the field expanded to 64 teams, joining the 2014 team. The Bulldogs' last national championship came in 2000 when Georgia was grouped in the top-four seedings with no true top spot.

All-SEC Awards
For the second-straight year, Georgia had a conference-high six All-SEC recipients. Meg Kowalski won SEC Freshman of the Year, keeping the honor in Athens (Katarina Jokic, 2018; Elena Christofi, 2017). Vivian Wolff, Marta Gonzalez, and Jokic were named First Team, while Lourdes Carle and Christofi were named Second Team. Kowalski and Carle were All-Freshman as well.

Scouting the Lady Hornets
Alabama State, located in Montgomery, went undefeated for the third-straight season in the Southwestern Athletic Conference. In the previous two years, the Lady Hornets have lost in the first rounds of the NCAAs to Georgia Tech (2017) and Vanderbilt (2018). The Lady Hornets landed five players on the SWAC All-Conference Team, while Head Coach Anuk Christiansz won Coach of the Year for the second year in a row.

Scouting the Governors
Austin Peay joined Georgia as the only NCAA Division I programs to experience an undefeated regular season. The Governors (22-0) went 8-0 record in the Ohio Valley Conference for their first regular season title since 1989. The Govs continued their run, winning the conference tourney for the first time since 2000 - their last NCAA appearance, a loss to Georgia Tech.
The Governors aim to become the first OVC team to win a NCAA Tournament match as they face Wake Forest in the first round.

Scouting the Demon Deacons
Wake Forest (20-8) finished fifth in the Atlantic Coast Conference with a 9-5 conference record. The Demon Deacons lost in the quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament to Florida State.
The NCAA Appearance marks the fourth-straight for the Deacs, including their second trip in a row to Athens. Last season, WF defeated Arizona State in the first round, before falling to Georgia. In all, WF is 15-18 in the NCAAs. Leading the Deacs is senior Emma Davis, ranked No. 35 in ITA singles, on the No. 1 court with a 15-9 dual mark. She has 12 ranked wins this season, and a bid to play in her second NCAA Singles Championships.

Doubles Success
Through 24 dual matches, Georgia is 19-for-23 in obtaining the doubles point (Doubles bypassed in NC State match). The Bulldogs are 41-18 (10 unf.) in individual doubles dual matches. After dropping three doubles points at the ITA Indoors, the Bulldogs switched up the lineup, which resulted in taking 16-of-17 points. Last season, Georgia took 19-of-25 doubles points, going 38-16. Georgia was one of four schools (North Carolina, Duke, Stanford) to have two doubles teams inside the top-30 in the final ITA rankings.

The "Pit" Getting it Done
As far back as the 1980's or beyond, courts four, five and six of the Henry Feild Stadium have been named "The Pit". The idea is to highlight the tough mentality of players that occupy those courts, the less attention compared to the players that roam the upper courts. This doesn't matter, because "The Pit" is all business and the points count the same. There is a new plaque leading down to court four that is titled "The Pit".  The women's team is defining the term to a 'T". Through 24 dual matches this spring, the Bulldogs in "The Pit" are 52-4 with 13 clinchers and 14 unfinished matches - all of which were led or tied by Georgia at stoppage. Sophomore Vivian Wolff on court four is 22-1 with four clinches and two top-20 wins. Junior Elena Christofi on court five is 14-2 with two ranked wins and two clinches. On court six, freshman Meg Kowalski is 16-1 with seven clinches, and two ranked wins.

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.