CHARLESTON, S.C. - Charleston Southern begins its 2022 NCAA Women's Tennis Championships trek Saturday afternoon against a national seed in No. 14 Georgia down in Athens, Ga. at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex.
Charleston Southern last made an NCAA Tournament appearance in 2021 where they fell to No. 9 UCF by a 4-0 margin. Charleston Southern enters the NCAA Tournament one of the hottest teams winning six-straight matches and their sixth Big South Championship in program history. The Buccaneers make their third NCAA appearance and are just the third Big South institution to ever make the Big Dance and only active conference affiliate.
Charleston Southern went 1-3 in the regular season against the 2022 NCAA Tournament field, sweeping South Carolina State before closely battling Georgia Tech. The two other matches came as losses to Furman and South Carolina.
Saturday is the second all-time meeting between the Bucs and Bulldogs with their previous affair coming in a 4-0 Georgia win May 9, 2015, in Athens in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
Zoe Cauthen,
Noa Boyd andÂ
Tiffany Pyritz stand as the three Buccaneers with double-digit singles wins on the season. Pyritz leads the way with 12 while only falling on one match.
Madalina Man and
Khyanna Singh lead the way on the doubles side, going 11-2 on the year, while Boyd joined forces with
Amila Jusufbegovic for a 10-1 doubles record and
Laura Marti and
Luiza Fullana were right behind with a 10-3 doubles clip.
Georgia is making their 35
th-straight appearance in the NCAA Tournament and earned a host honor for the 11
th-straight season. The Bulldogs have won two National Titles, the first coming in 1994 and the later coming six years after the first in 2000.
The Bulldogs have a slew of important wins on their resume, starting with a 4-0 win over No. 16 Washington back in February. Georgia then went on to clash with nine-straight top-75 programs, winning eight of the nine including a streak of seven-straight. The streak started with a 7-0 win over No. 46 Ole Miss and was highlighted with a 7-0 victory over No. 4 Ohio State.
A win Saturday would be the first over a national seed and the Bucs' first in the NCAA Tournament in program history. Should they advance, the Bucs would see either Wake Forest (#23) or Northwestern (#40).
