Sept. 19, 2008

COLUMBIA, S.C. — The South Carolina women’s tennis team opens its fall campaign Friday in Charlottesville, Va., at the UVa Invitational at the Snyder Tennis Center.

Teams in this year’s field in addition to the Gamecocks include Virginia, Tennessee, Marshall, VCU, NC State, Old Dominion and UNC Greensboro. Play begins at 10 a.m. Friday and ends Sunday. Players will have one singles and one doubles match each day.

Seven members of the Gamecocks’ eight-person roster are set to compete, including Gira Schofield, Ana Marija Zubori, Suzanna Mansour, Jelena Rajic, Miljana Jocic, Natasa Vuckovic and Ashley Miller.

Schofield and Vuckovic are back for their senior years with Carolina and have earned All-SEC recognition in each of their three previous seasons. Zubori, a junior, is a two-time all-conference team member. The trio has held down the top three singles positions for the Gamecocks the past two years. Schofield is ranked No. 31 in the nation this fall and Zubori is 54th. The two are No. 19 as a doubles team.

Rajic and Jocic are entering their sophomore seasons, while Mansour is also in her second year with South Carolina after transferring from Florida State. Rajic spent most of last spring playing at five and six singles, and Mansour consistently played the No. 4 slot. Jocic missed the second half of the spring campaign after suffering a knee injury.

Miller, one of two freshmen on the team this year, came to Columbia, S.C., from Montgomery, N.Y. She was rated as one of the top 50 recruits in the nation coming out of high school by TennisRecruiting.net.