The doubles team of junior Maria Clara Zotti and sophomore Marta Machado have advanced to the final of its flight to lead the Georgia Gwinnett College women's tennis team's individual performances in the fall opener at the University of North Georgia Invitational on Friday in Dahlonega, Georgia.

DRAWS

The Clara Zotti-Machado pairing was victorious in its C flight opener, defeating opponents from NCAA Division II's Lenoir-Rhyne University (North Carolina) by a 6-0 score. The GGC team then came out on top of a tiebreaker by a 7-5 score to beat a duo from Division III's Emory University (Georgia).

Clara Zotti-Machado will now play a team from Division II's Columbus State University (Georgia) in the final match on Saturday, September 18, starting at 9:45 a.m.

In singles, Clara Zotti was victorious by identical 6-2 set scores against Emory's Xuanyu Chen on Friday afternoon. She will face Maria Markosov from Columbus State in Saturday's D flight semifinal round match, starting at 11:45 a.m.

Senior Mireia Simon Sanchez collected a 6-3, 6-3 triumph against Lenoir-Rhyne's Alexa Allison in a E flight quarterfinal-round match. Her Saturday opponent will be Emory's Sara Nenkov, starting at 11:45 a.m.

The team of senior Suryanshi Suryanshi and junior MaryLove Edwards picked up a 6-1 victory against an opponent from Division II's Auburn University at Montgomery (Alabama) in consolation-round action in the tournament's A flight.

Machado dropped a hard-fought three-set singles match, losing 10-7 in the tiebreaker of the B flight against North Georgia's Sofia Giraldo. Machado won the second set by a 6-2 set to force the deciding tiebreaker.
 
Coach's Corner
"It was a good first day for the women. We definitely have some areas that we aim to show growth tomorrow, but that's why we're here: to figure out how we can be best prepared for next week's regional tournament (Intercollegiate Tennis Association South Regional)," said Head Coach Tom Rees.
 
Up Next
Singles and doubles teams will round out the UNG Invitational on Saturday, September 19, in Dahlonega, Georgia.