March 24, 2012

UNCG (8-4, 3-0 SoCon) vs. Georgia Southern (4-10, 1-4 SoCon), March 25, 12 p.m., Piedmont Indoor Tennis Center

Storylines

- UNCG will try to remain perfect in Southern Conference play when it hosts Georgia Southern at the Piedmont Indoor Tennis Center on Sunday. The match had been scheduled for the UNCG Tennis Courts on the Spartans' campus but has been moved due to the threat of inclement weather in the area.

- The Spartans have won three straight, all in league play. UNCG opened SoCon play last weekend with road wins over Samford and Chattanooga and topped Davidson on the road on Wednesday. UNCG cruised to a 6-1 win over the Wildcats, with Davidson's only win coming in a super tiebreaker at No. 2 singles over Alex Whitehead, who was playing up a flight due to an injury to Dilara Yurtkuran.

- UNCG is one of just three unbeaten teams left in SoCon play. College of Charleston is 5-0 against league opponents, while Furman is 2-0.

- Redshirt junior Niltooli Wilkins paces UNCG with a 21-6 singles record and is 11-1 in dual play, all at No. 1. She has won 11 straight since opening the dual campaign with a 7-5, 7-5 loss to No. 44 Zoe De Bruycker of North Carolina on Jan. 18. With 21 wins to her credit and at least 10 matches left on UNCG's schedule, Wilkins has a chance to surpass the school record of 29 set by Alejandra Guerra in 2009.

- Freshman Stephanie Falcon is second on the squad with a 19-6 record (8-4 dual), while Devon Sutherland is 11-7 overall and 4-1 in dual play and Annette Rios is 11-11 overall and 7-5 in duals.

- In doubles play, Wilkins and Dougherty, who are ranked 66^th nationally and have been ranked as high as 40^th this season, are 17-8 with an 8-3 dual mark. Whitehead and Sutherland are 6-1 together at No. 2, while freshman Kayla Gammie and Rios are 10-3 with an 8-1 dual mark, mostly at No. 3, and have won six straight.

- Whitehead is the reigning SoCon Student-Athlete of the Week. Whitehead, was 1-1 in singles and 2-0 in doubles last week, owns a 4.0 grade point average and is majoring in media studies.

- Sunday's match against Georgia Southern will be UNCG's first in Greensboro in exactly one month. UNCG is 3-1 at home this year with a 2-1 mark at the Piedmont Indoor Tennis Center and a 5-2 win over Gardner-Webb on Feb. 21 at the UNCG Tennis Courts.

- Since the 2010 season, UNCG is 19-6 at home, including a 5-1 record in matches at Piedmont Indoor. The Spartans are 14-5 at the UNCG Tennis Courts in that span.

- Georgia Southern is 4-10 overall and 1-4 in league play and has lost six straight since a two-match winning streak at the beginning of this month. The Eagles own wins over Presbyterian, Mercer, Western Carolina and Florida A&M.

- Last time out, the Eagles dropped a 7-0 decision to visiting Furman on March 18. GSU's lone win came at No. 1 doubles, where Paolo Garrido and Caitlin Kitchen earned an 8-6 victory over the Paladins' top duo.

- Garrido leads GSU with a 9-5 singles record, all at No. 1, while Allison Beeler and Cameron Williams are each 6-8 and have played at four different flights each.

- In doubles play, Garrido and Kitchen are 6-2 with a 2-1 mark at No. 1 and a 4-1 record at No. 2. Natalie Maffett and Alexis Prickett are 3-5, all at No. 1.

- UNCG has won two straight over Georgia Southern and eight of the last nine. The Spartans took a pair of wins over the Eagles last season, grabbing a 6-1 road win on April 8 and a 4-0 win in the quarterfinals of the SoCon Championship in Chattanooga, Tenn., on April 21.

- UNCG -