Women’s Tennis Set for South Carolina Invitational

Friday, September 16

Columbia, S.C.

All Day

Middle Tennessee

South Carolina Fall Invitational

9/14/2016 12:30:00 PM | Women's Tennis

Blue Raiders to compete in first fall tournament

By: @MTAthletics

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – Middle Tennessee women's tennis will get back to competition this weekend as a team for the first time since April, as they participate in the South Carolina Fall Invitational.

Winthrop and North Florida will join the Blue Raiders and Gamecocks on Sept. 16-18 at the Carolina Tennis Center. The event will be played in a hidden dual format, and will be a round-robin event.

"We've been waiting since April to finally compete again, and we're all very excited," MT head coach Charlie Ramsay said. "We've had some good preparation, but we've still got a lot of work to do this fall."

Competition will be tough in the opening weekend of the fall season for the Blue Raiders, as their three opponents were participants in the 2016 NCAA Tournament. Winthrop saw its season end in the first round against South Carolina, who dropped its second round match to Georgia Tech. North Florida was downed in the first round by No. 5 Georgia after winning the Atlantic Sun Championship.

The first 2016-17 Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) rankings were released on Sept. 13, with Winthrop's Lauren Proctor ranked No. 115 in singles. South Carolina placed three singles players in the rankings along with the seventh ranked doubles team to start the fall season. The Gamecocks ended the 2016 dual match season ranked No. 17.

"We're going to put a big emphasis on doubles this weekend," Ramsay added. "Our doubles system is very specific, and it's something we've worked on a lot. I'm excited to see new pairings and see how the newcomers have developed."

The Blue Raiders return four from the 2015-16 team, including seniors Sarah Sediri and Alory Pereira. Sophomores Luisa Zirilli and Costanza Magazzini were also in the starting lineup for the majority of last season.

Four newcomers are joining the team this fall, including junior transfer Maria Josefina Zehnder. While Zehnder is new to MT, she's not new to collegiate tennis, as she was No. 2 in the singles lineup for Southwest Baptist last season, leading the Bearcats to the NCAA DII Quarterfinals. Lidia Burrows, Holly Horsfall and Marta Peris Herrero also join the Blue Raiders as freshmen.

Live stats and streaming will be available for this weekend's event. Follow @MT_WomensTennis on Twitter for updates throughout the weekend.