[break]
The No.10 Georgia women’s tennis team (1-0) will host the No. 71 Samford Bulldogs (0-0) at the Lindsey Hopkins Indoor Facility on Saturday at 1 p.m. in what will be both schools’ first match of the 2015 ITA Kick-Off Weekend. The winner of the match will advance to face the winner of Saturday’s 9 a.m. matchup between No. 28 Auburn and No. 63 Wake Forest in the championship at 5 p.m. on Sunday, while the losers will square-off in a consolation match on Sunday at 9 a.m. The champion of the four-team tournament will advance to the 2015 ITA National Team Indoor Championships being held in Charlottesville, Va. from Feb. 6-9.
[break]
[break]
THE ITA KICK-OFF WEEKEND: This weekend, a total of sixty women’s teams will be competing across the country for the right to qualify for the ITA National Team Indoor Championships to be hosted in February by UVA. The 15 women’s universities hosting ITA Kick-Off Weekend events were designated as host sites in order of their year-end 2014 ITA team ranking. Three visiting schools will travel to each host site for a four-team tournament. The host school will meet the No. 4 seed, the No. 2 seed will play the No. 3 seed, and the winners will come back to play for a berth at the ITA National Team Indoor Championships. Last season, Georgia hosted and beat Elon and Arkansas to progress to the Indoor Championships.
[break]
[break]
SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION: Samford finished 20-3 last season and narrowly missed out on a place in the NCAA First Round after losing to Elon in the Southern Conference Championships. Head coach David Vest was named ITA Southern Region Coach of the Year after guiding the Bulldogs to one of their most successful regular season records in school history. Currently ranked No. 71 in the nation, Samford is returning five players from a season ago. They are yet to play an official dual match this spring.
[break]
[break]
SERIES HISTORY: These two schools, who share Bulldogs as mascots, have only met once before. That meeting came all the way back in 2004, when Georgia hosted Samford for the NCAA First Round in Athens. Georgia won the match 4-0.
[break]
[break]
LAST TIME OUT: Georgia officially opened its spring dual match season with an agonizing 4-3 defeat at No. 15 Baylor that came down to a third set in the deciding singles match. It marked the first time since 1996 that the Bulldogs have opened the season with a loss.
[break]
[break]
UP NEXT: After Samford the Bulldogs will play either Wake Forest or Auburn on Sunday to close out the ITA Kick-Off Weekend. Georgia’s next dual match will be at Clemson on Jan. 31 at 1 p.m.
[break]
[break]