College Tennis News – Guilford Qualifies for ODAC Tournaments

GREENSBORO, N.C. – Guilford College opens play in the 2013 Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) Men’s and Women’s Tennis Tournaments this weekend. The Quakers’ men are seeded fourth and the women eighth in the eight-team fields.

Guilford’s men host Virginia Wesleyan College Saturday in the first round 2:00 p.m. The Quakers (8-7) pulled out a narrow 5-4 win in the team’s first meeting Feb. 15. Guilford’s wins came from the number-two and number-three doubles teams, along with singles victories at numbers three, five, and six. The Quakers earned the fourth seed with a 6-4 league record. The Marlins (10-11) also went 6-4 in the league, but Guilford received the home match by winning the regular-season matchup.

Trevor Cox and Mark Cheong lead Guilford with 6-4 singles records in conference matches. Erik Meiler and Turner Votipka are not far behind with 5-5 marks and Ben Nelson is 4-0. The team of Nelson and Votipka won all four ODAC matches this year at second doubles.

The Quakers’ women (7-8, 4-7 ODAC) begin Sunday April 21st, as the eighth seed against top-seeded Washington and Lee University. The match starts at 11 a.m. in Lexington, Va. The Quakers enter the match after a 9-0 loss to the Generals (15-4, 11-0 ODAC) last Sunday in their regular season finale. Washington and Lee is ranked 18th in the latest ITA/Division III Poll and boasts two regionally ranked singles players and two ranked doubles tandems.

Allison Hewitt leads Guilford this season with a 10-4 overall record and went 8-3 in conference. Fernanda Gonzalez was not too far behind with a 6-2 overall record, mostly at sixth singles. Kim Kleimeier had a solid senior year with an overall record of 6-8. She and Natalie Sutton teamed up at the number-two doubles position for an 8-7 overall record.

Fans can follow Guilford’s tournament play at www.guilfordquakers.com. Complete tournament coverage can be found on line at www.odaconline.com.