Coming off their second-place finish at the 2010 NCAA Division III Championships, the Emory University women’s tennis team took to the court for the first time this fall, playing at the Blue & Gray Fall Classic in Montgomery, AL this past weekend.

Although structured like an official tournament, the round robin provided the Eagles with a chance to face some strong collegiate competition early in their fall season.  Besides Emory, competing schools included the NCAA Division I University of Alabama – Birmingham, NCAA Division III Huntingdon College, and NAIA institutions Auburn University – Montgomery, Shorter College and Brenau University.

Emory had a number of strong performances in the singles flights, as no Eagle recorded a losing record during the two-day affair.  Making her collegiate debut, freshman Gabrielle Clark went 2-1 in the first singles flight, while junior all-American Zahra Dawson went 2-2 in the second singles flight.  In the third and fourth flights, respectively, Emory senior Lorne McManigle and sophomore Jordan Wylie each finished with a 2-1 record.   Sophomore transfer Kelsey Grad played in the fifth singles flight, tying for the team lead in victories with a 3-1 record.  In the sixth singles flight, Malavika Padmanabhan went 3-0, while senior Lindsay Reidenbach and freshman Brenna Kelly each went 2-1.

In the first doubles flight, Emory’s McManigle and Dawson, who finished second at the NCAA Division III Doubles Championships in 2010, did not miss a beat with a 2-0 doubles record during the weekend.  Also in the first doubles flight, Clark and Kelly lost their only match before winning a pair in the second doubles flight.  Wylie and Padmanabhan teamed up to win a match in the second doubles flight as well, but Padmanabhan later lost a second doubles match in the flight when teamed with Grad.  In the third doubles flight, Grad was paired with Reidenbach, where the pair won their only match of the tournament.

The Eagles will resume their fall season on October 1^st, when they will head to Sewanee, TN for the ITA South Region Fall Championships.