The No. 1 Georgia Gwinnett women's tennis team started its quest for its second NAIA National title in three years on Wednesday as the Grizzlies began their first day of competition at the 2016 NAIA Women's Tennis National Championship in Mobile, Ala.

Georgia Gwinnet (15-2) received a first round bye as the overall number one seed in this year's tournament.  The Grizzlies began their National Championship journey with a 5-0 sweep of No. 16 Olivet Nazarene (Ill.) late Wednesday evening as inclement weather and rain delayed the match's original start time of 10 a.m. Eastern.

"The women played fantastic today and took care of business quickly," stated GGC head coach Chase Hodges. "We face a very difficult test in the quarterfinals tomorrow against Indiana Wesleyan as they are a very talented and prepared squad."

The Grizzlies gathered a 3-0 advantage at the break, sweeping doubles play.  The NAIA's No. 1 ranked pair of Valeria Podda and Sophie Feller kicked things off with an 8-2 victory at No. 1 doubles while the duo of Chiara Di Salvo and Alyona Vasilyeva secured a second GGC win with an 8-4 victory over ONU's Priscila Nunez and Seraphine Buchmann.

Georgia Gwinnett wrapped up the doubles sweep with an 8-0 win in the No. 3 spot as Klara Dohnalova and Helga Pinones-Haltenhoff combined for the victory.

In singles action, Di Salvo collected the fourth point of the match for the Grizzlies with a 6-0, 6-0 sweep of ONU's Buchmann at No. 4 singles while Vasilyeva clinched GGC's 5-0 sweep with a 6-0, 6-0 victory over Mikaela Coose in the No. 5 spot.

With the victory, the Grizzlies move on to the quarterfinals where they will face off with No. 8 Indiana Wesleyan at 10:00 a.m. Eastern at the Mobile Tennis Complex.

Hodges concluded, "I really believe our training has prepared us for this moment, and we look forward to tomorrow's challenge."

The complete 2016 NAIA Women's Tennis National Championship bracket can be accessed by clicking here.

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