Thursday, April 23
Elon, N.C.
10:30 a.m.
Davidson College Athletics
vs
vs. #8 Samford (First Rd.)
Davidson Tennis Teams Ready to Serve It Up at SoCon Tournament
4/20/2009 12:33:09 PM | Men's Tennis, Women's Tennis
Gavin McFarlin - Assistant SID
DAVIDSON, N.C. — Both the Wildcat men's and women's tennis teams will gear up for the Southern Conference Tennis Tournament, which takes place this Thursday through Sunday in Elon, N.C. on the campus of Elon University.
The men's team, who are seeded ninth, will open up the tournament against first-year member the Samford Bulldogs on Thursday at 10:30 a.m. For the women, who are seeded fifth, they will start tournament play on Friday, Apr. 24, with a 9 a.m. match against fourth-seeded Georgia Southern.
Scouting the Wildcat Men's Team
The Davidson men's team finished the regular season with a 6-16 overall mark and 2-8 in league play. They will be seeking their 10th SoCon Tournament title, with the program last capturing the title back in 1973.
The 'Cats will be looking to avenge a 4-3 setback to the Bulldogs back on Mar. 1. Scoring wins in the match was junior Eric Noble (Fayetteville, N.C.) and sophomore Walker Lyons (Wallingford, Pa.) at the No. 1 and 2 singles spots. Getting the Wildcats third and final point was Calum Gee (Ayr, Scotland), who earned a three-set win at the No. 4 singles position.
Leading the way for the Wildcats this year in singles play has been senior Scott Myers (West Palm Beach, Fla.) with a team-best record of 11-10. Of his 11 wins, 10 of them have come at the No. 3 position. A second-team All-SoCon pick last year, Myers has a career singles mark of 46-38 playing anywhere from the No. 3 spot to the No. 6 spot during his four-year career. In addition to his 11 singles wins this year, Myers has also been a solid contributor in doubles with another 10 wins.
No. 4 singles player Gee and No. 2 Lyons followed Myers with nine singles wins each, while Gee has teamed up with Myers for six more doubles wins.
Scouting the Wildcat Women's Team
The Wildcat women's squad closed out the regular season with an even 11-11 record, while picking up six of those wins in league play (6-4). They will be in search of their first SoCon Tournament title after reaching the finals in three of the past four tournaments. Last year saw the 'Cats reach the finals where they dropped a 4-0 decision to Furman.
Davidson is looking for some payback after falling for the first time in eight matches against Georgia Southern back on Mar. 14 by the count of 5-2. The Eagles took five of the six singles matches to seal the SoCon victory. Davidson sits at 16-4 all-time against the Eagles and has faced them twice in the past three years in the tournament, winning both of the matchups.
Picking up the lone win in the match vs. GSU was junior Virginia Berry (Spartanburg, S.C.), who enters tournament play with a team-best 16-6 mark in singles action. She finished 9-1 in league matches, with her only loss coming in the Wildcats' regular-season finale against Furman, which snapped her team-high eight-match win streak.
Berry, just one singles win from matching her career-high set two years ago, has another 10 wins in doubles play this year putting her second on the team.
In addition to Berry's 16 singles wins, three other 'Cats hit the 10-win plateau this year with No. 1 player Michele Fanney (Virginia Beach, Va.), No. 4 Ali Gores (Charlotte, N.C.) and No. 5 Molly McDevitt (Albuquerque, N.M.) each hitting the mark.
The Opponents
No. 5 Samford dropped its final regular season match at Wofford and enters tourney play at 6-15-1 overall and 3-6-1 in league action. The Bulldogs have dropped their last four matches overall, with three of them coming against league foes.
For the Georgia Southern women, the Eagles are sporting a 13-6 overall mark and went 7-3 against the league. They have won seven of the last nine matches, including a 4-3 regular-season finale win over Samford.
Next Up
Should the men's team advance to the quarterfinals, it would play No. 1 Furman, Apr. 24, at 9:00 a.m.
The women, should they get past GSU, would face the winner of No. 1 Furman and No. 8 Appalachian State/No. 9 Chattanooga on Saturday, Apr. 25 in the semifinals at 10 a.m.
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