Sept. 28, 2006
COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina’s women’s tennis team will open its 2006 fall schedule Friday in Greenville, S.C., at the Furman Fall Classic. Other schools competing in the tournament include Clemson, Furman, North Carolina, Penn State, Tennessee, Vanderbilt and Wisconsin.
Representing the Gamecocks in Greenville are seniors Laura Ganzer, Miranda Gutierrez and Christyn Lucas, sophomores Gira Schofield and Natasa Vuckovic, and freshman Ana Marija Zubori.
Ganzer will be playing collegiate singles for the first time since March when she suffered a severe ankle sprain that kept her out for the remainder of the 2006 season. She went 11-9 in singles for the year and was 10-12 in doubles.
Gutierrez sat out last fall with an injury, but returned with a productive spring for the Gamecocks. After starting at the No. 6 position in dual matches, she slowly moved her way up to the fourth slot and finished 11-8 overall. In doubles, Gutierrez played at two and three and went 9-9 for the year.
Like her classmates, Lucas dealt with injuries her junior year that kept her out of fall competition and a portion of the spring campaign as well. She returned to the singles lineup playing No. 6 in March and by the end of the year filled the third singles spot. Lucas notched a 7-6 record in singles and compiled an 8-9 doubles slate.
Schofield played exclusively at No. 1 singles and doubles for the Gamecocks as a true freshman. She earned second-team All-SEC honors and was tabbed Intercollegiate Tennis Association Southeast Region Rookie of the Year. Schofield received the SEC’s Freshman of the Year award as well. Her final singles ranking for the year was 54th after going 25-11 and 14-7 at No. 1 singles. In doubles, Schofield put together a 19-17 mark. Schofield is currently ranked No. 39 nationally in singles and is 37th in doubles with Vuckovic.
Vuckovic held the No. 2 singles position for the majority of the 2006 season, going 26-15 overall and 14-7 in dual matches. Along with Schofield, Vuckovic was named to the All-SEC Second Team, and she was named SEC Player of the Week in February. She was 19-17 in doubles and played the top two positions for duals. Vuckovic was ranked as high as No. 62 in the spring and is currently 93rd in the ITA rankings.
Zubori, the lone freshman on this year’s squad, came to South Carolina from Mulhouse, France. She accumulated a wealth of experience playing in International Tennis Federation events and was a two-time French national junior champion. A holder of dual citizenship, Zubori won a pair of national junior titles in Serbia as well. Zubori was ranked in the top 10 in Europe for the under-16s and was among the top 50 in the world in the under-18s.
