May 20, 2008

NCAA Championships Central | Notes on Gira Schofield

COLUMBIA, S.C. -- Junior Gira Schofield from the South Carolina women's tennis team is set to compete in the NCAA Division I Women's Tennis Singles Championship in Tulsa, Okla., starting Wednesday.

Schofield is making her third appearance in a row at the event, one of just four Gamecocks in school history to do so. She is scheduled to take on Ekaterina Burduli from Washington State in the first round of the 64-person field at 2:30 p.m. ET Wednesday at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center.

Gira Schofield is making her third straight appearance in the NCAA Singles Championship.

Schofield and Burduli have never faced each other in their collegiate careers and one will advance to the second round for the first time. Burduli, a senior, made the field in 2006 and lost in straight sets in the first round to Christelle Grier of Northwestern. Schofield lost to Anna Lubinsky from Texas A&M that same year 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 and fell to Tracy Lin from UCLA a year ago 7-6(4), 6-2.

Schofield enters the tournament with a 22-14 record this season and has been ranked among the top 50 the entire season. In early March, she established a career-high singles ranking of 23rd and currently stands at No. 45. Burduli is 28-10 for the year and ranked No. 47 heading into Wednesday's match.

Fans can follow all the action from the NCAA Championships at www.tulsahurricane.com. The site features live scoring of all matches as well as live video.