January 18, 2012

UNCG (0-0) at No. 4 North Carolina (0-0), Jan. 18, Chapel Hill, N.C., 7 p.m.

LiveStats: UNCGSpartans.com (via TarHeelBlue.com)

Storylines

- UNCG's women's tennis team opens its spring campaign Wednesday at No. 4 North Carolina in Chapel Hill, N.C., at the Cone-Kenfield Tennis Center.

- The Spartans took part in six fall tournaments, sending representatives to the Davidson Fall Invitational, the UVa Fall Invitational, The Wake Forest Invitational, the Riviera/ITA Women's All-American Championship, the USTA/ITA Regional Championships and the Kitty Harrison Invitational.

- UNCG's final two events of the fall were in Chapel Hill, meaning the Spartans will play there in three straight events with Wednesday's dual match.

- UNCG's Niltooli Wilkins and Lucy Dougherty are nationally ranked in doubles, as the duo checked in at No. 40 in the first ITA rankings of the spring. The pair went 9-5 together in the fall with a win over a top-10 team at the UVa Fall Invitational. Wilkins and Dougherty went 20-3 together last season, with an 18-2 dual mark. This fall, they won the Flight 1 title at the Davidson Invite and fell in the final of the UVa Invite. They played at the Riviera/ITA All-American Championships in Los Angeles in October.

- Wilkins went 10-5 in singles action this fall, including a 2-2 mark against ranked opponents. Ranked No. 17 in the Carolinas region, Wilkins won the Flight 1 at the Davidson Fall Invitational and was third at the Kitty Harrison Invite.

- Freshman Stephanie Falcon had an impressive debut in the fall, going 11-2 in singles play. She won the Flight 7 title at the Davidson Invite in her first collegiate action. Classmate Kayla Gammie was 6-2 in the fall and won the Flight 8 title at the same event.

- In doubles play, Alex Whitehead and Dilara Yurtkuran were 6-1 together in the fall, while Falcon and Devon Sutherland went 6-3. Falcon and Sutherland advanced to the B Doubles final at the UVa Invite and the C Doubles final of the Wake Forest Invite.

- As a team, the Spartans went 15-7 overall last year with a 9-1 Southern Conference mark to finish second in the league.

- The Tar Heels boast several ranked individuals. In singles play, junior Lauren McHale is ranked 16^th nationally. Classmate Zoe De Bruycker is No. 44 and freshman Caroline Price is No. 55. In doubles, De Bruycker and sophomore Laura Slater are No. 43 and senior Haley Hemm and McHale are No. 48.

- The Tar Heels opened their spring season at the Freeman Memorial Tennis Championships in Las Vegas, Nev., from Friday-Sunday.

- De Bruycker advanced to the quarterfinals of the event before losing to national No. 1 Mallory Burdette of Stanford. After a first-round bye, McHale fell in the round of 16 but won her final two matches of the tournament, including a win over No. 8 Robin Anderson of UCLA. McHale and Shinann Featherston teamed for a pair of doubles wins on the weekend.

- North Carolina is hosting a day-night Southern Conference doubleheader Wednesday. The Tar Heels host Elon at 2 p.m. before taking on the Spartans later in the day.

- The last time UNCG and North Carolina met was March 3 of last season, when the then-No. 5 Tar Heels took a 7-0 win Chapel Hill.

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