Women’s Tennis Opens Spring Season Against Furman, Auburn

Saturday, January 22

Auburn, Ala.

12:00 PM

UAB

Furman

Women’s Tennis Opens Spring Season Against Furman, Auburn

1/21/2022 10:08:00 AM | Women's Tennis

Live Stats vs. Auburn

BIRMINGHAM – The UAB women's tennis team opens the spring portion of its schedule this weekend when it faces Furman on Jan. 22 at noon and Auburn on Jan. 23 at 3 p.m. Both matches will be played at the Yarbrough Tennis Center on Auburn's campus.

UAB LATELY
UAB (0-0) is coming off a fall season that saw them win 64% of their singles matches and 65% of their doubles matches in three events that included competition from a number of Power 5 conferences.

The Blazers return Conference USA All-Conference selection Sydney Clarke and starters Jana Hecking, Adela Wasserbauerova, Annalisa Smith, Maggie White and Alexandra da Silva, who was a perfect 11-0 in singles and 10-3 in doubles during the fall season. New to the team are a trio of freshmen in Vanessa Mellynchuk, Mackenzie White and Enya Ratkic.

Last season UAB finished 14-7 and advanced in the C-USA quarterfinals. The 14 wins was the most since the 2005 season as well as the most for head coach Mark Tjia since he took over the program in 2014.

FURMAN LATELY
Furman (2-0) opened the season with victories over VCU (5-2) and Emanual (7-0). The Paladins are coming off a 21-7 season in which they were ranked No. 35 in the final Oracle/Intercollegiate Tennis Association Division I poll and were Southern Conference champions. Furman fell in the first round of the NCAA Championship to No. 32 Wake Forest 4-2.

The Paladins return two players that were nationally ranked in doubles last year in Julia Adams (22^nd) and Madison Dillon (48^th). Adams, Dillon and Ellie Schoppe were all named 2021 All-SoCon All-Conference.

AUBURN LATELY
Auburn (0-0) will play Furman Sunday morning before taking on the Blazers. The Tigers, ranked 25th in the preseason ITA rankings, opened the spring season last week in a round robin match against South Carolina, Wake Forest and Georgia Tech going 19-5 overall against the three teams.

The Tigers advanced to second round of the NCAA Championship last season, defeating Oklahoma State 4-2 before falling to No. 7 Florida State. Auburn returns Selin Ovunc and Carolyn Ansari who were named to the SEC All-Newcomer team last season. Ovunc finished the season ranked No. 50 and Ansari No. 67 in the country last season. Also returning is Georgie Axon, who was ranked No. 76 in doubles last year.

UP NEXT
UAB will travel to Tuscaloosa to take on Alabama on Jan. 29. The Blazers will play their next two matches in Homewood, facing Samford on Feb. 2 and Central Arkansas on Feb. 5. UAB's home opener is Feb. 6 against Chattanooga at Lakeshore Tennis Courts.

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