Nov. 2, 2006

COLUMBIA, S.C. — The South Carolina women’s tennis team will conclude its fall slate at the SEC Fall Coaches Classic, which begins later today in Peach Tree City, Ga., with two rounds of doubles competition. The tournament ends on Sunday.

Five Gamecocks will represent Carolina at the event, including 39th-ranked Gira Schofield, Laura Ganzer, Miranda Gutierrez, Megan McGavock and Ana Marija Zubori. Schofield will team with Zubori for doubles and Ganzer and McGavock comprise USC’s other tandem.

Zubori has posted the most impressive fall among the Gamecocks’ eight-member roster. She boasts an 11-1 singles record with titles at the Furman Fall Classic and the Southern Intercollegiate Championships. She has played doubles with Schofield and Christyn Lucas for a combined record of 7-2. Zubori and Schofield won their respective doubles flight at last weekend’s Southern Intercollegiate.

Schofield is 4-4 this fall and was forced to pull out of her last match in the Southern Intercollegiate semifinals with an injury. She has a 5-3 slate in doubles matches and in addition to Zubori has played five matches with Natasa Vuckovic.

Ganzer is third on the team in singles wins this fall after running her record to 8-2 by winning the A-2 flight at the Southern Intercollegiate. In September, Ganzer reached the final of her singles flight in Furman and she won a pair of matches at the USTA National Tennis Center Invitational. Like Zubori, Ganzer has a 7-2 doubles record after play with Gutierrez and McGavock. At the Southern Intercollegiate, she and McGavock took home the B-1 flight title.

Gutierrez has a 9-3 singles record this fall. She won the C-1 flight of the Southern Intercollegiate and enters the SEC Fall Coaches Classic having won eight of her last nine matches. Gutierrez also holds a 6-4 doubles record for a combined fall record of 15-7.

McGavock recovered from four straight losses to open her junior campaign by winning flight B-2 at the Southern Intercollegiate to even her singles record at 4-4. She lost a total of just seven games during her run through the tournament and never surrendered more than two games to each of her four opponents. McGavock is 5-2 in doubles matches and 5-1 playing with Ganzer.