Georgia Womens Tennis Places Three In NCAA Tournament
The Georgia womens tennis team will have three players representing the Bulldog program in the individual part of the NCAA Tourney.
Three members of the Georgia women’s tennis team gained NCAA Championship bids.
Senior Lauren Herring and freshman Kennedy Shaffer will compete in the singles tournament as at-large selections, and freshman Ellen Perez will join Herring as an at-large choice in the doubles tournament. Perez was also named the fifth alternate for the singles competition.
Herring was tabbed with the No. 5 seed for this year’s singles tournament, meaning she earns the fourth All-American honor of her distinguished Georgia career. The Greenville, N.C., native went 21-6 in singles this season while beating 14 nationally ranked opponents along the way. She is ranked No. 6 in the nation in singles and has already earned First Team All-SEC and SEC All-Tournament Team honors this spring.
Shaffer earned Second Team All-SEC and SEC Freshman Team honors this season, compiling an individual singles record of 15-5. She will enter the singles tournament seeded outside of the top-16 but hoping to build upon the six nationally ranked wins she has this season. Shaffer is the No. 47 ranked singles player in the nation.
Shaffer’s fellow freshman, Ellen Perez, will also remain in Waco after the team tournament to partner with Herring in the doubles competition. The No. 13 ranked pair in the nation did not earn one of the top eight seeds but will look to improve upon the 12 overall victories and 4 wins over ranked opponents that they have claimed this year. Perez was named the fifth alternate for the singles tournament in the event that some of the selected players withdraw. She boasts a national singles ranking of No. 60.
The specific matchups and brackets for the individual tournaments will not be announced until the team part of the event. A total of 64 players and 32 doubles teams will compete for the individual championships.
Georgia players have won the singles tournament three times: Lisa Spain in 1984, Angela Lettiere in 1994, and Chelsey Gullickson in 2010. No Bulldog tandem has ever won the NCAA doubles championships, although Herring and former teammate Maho Kowase became the fifth duo to reach the finals during last season’s tournament.
The Bulldogs (20-6) will begin postseason play as a team in the first and second rounds of the NCAA Tournament from May 9-10 at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex. Georgia will open with a match against Charleston Southern at noon on Saturday. Duke and Purdue will feature in Saturday’s other first round match at 9 a.m.