We'll start with golf, where the ladies are hosting the 42nd annual Liz Murphey Classic this weekend at the UGA course off Riverbend. This year's event is women's college golf royalty, as we welcome to town the back to back national champs of Southern Cal, JUCO champs Daytona St, and several other high caliber, top 25 programs.
Friday's first round will be a traditional stroke play loop , with those results utilized to comprise a pair of match play brackets for the weekend. The top-eight teams will be seeded in the "Red" bracket, and the remaining schools will move to the "Black" bracket. Saturday will feature two rounds of match play, while Sunday will feature 18 holes of match play. Georgia is already on the course today squaring off against second year coach Josh Brewer's former program in Southern Cal, having teed off at 8 a.m. Sophomore Amira Alexander enters the tournament as the SEC's Golfer of the Week thanks to her playoff showdown at the Kirk Panther Invitational. Georgia's golfers competed in that event as individuals, due to NCAA rules on the days we are allowed to compete as a team.
Softball will host South Carolina this weekend at Jack Turner Stadium off Milledge. Admission is free for games that begin at 6 p.m tonight, 2 tomorrow, and 1:30 on Sunday. Wednesday saw our top 20 ranked Ladies of the Diamond beat Georgia Tech 9-7 at home, in their final at bat.
The nation's 8th ranked men's tennis team will look to get a new winning streak going after Texas A&M knocked them off last weekend. They will host Arkansas today at 5, and LSU Sunday at 1 on the Dan Magill Courts (inside or outside, depending on the weather). This evening's affair will be apart of USTA's College Matchday series broadcast by ESPN3. Thus, singles matches will be played first and if the match is not clinched after singles (meaning one side or the other wins 4 of the 6 matches), doubles will be played using a 10-point super tiebreaker format. The first team to win two of the tiebreakers will clinch the team match. Our ladies are ranked 2nd nationally on the courts, and they get to face Arkansas tonight at 4 before heading south a bit towards LSU for Sunday's matches in Baton Rouge.
Away from the Classic City, the Diamond Dawgs are in Missouri and the usual Friday 7 p.m. start for sophomore lefty Ryan Lawlor (2-2, 4.54 ERA) and freshman phenom Robert Tyler (2-2, 1.54 ERA) going Saturday at 2. Sunday's starter (at noon) is unannounced as senior Patrick Boling has struggled with walks. Sticking with baseball a second, georgiadogs.com has a great video piece on the injury recovery of juniors Connor Welton and Brandon Stephens, and sophomore pitcher Pete Nagel. Maria Torres of the Grady Sports Bureau also has a great piece up on just how good we might have things with Tyler, the righty from Cordele.
Vineyard will give you much more later on the Gym Dawgs hosting their NCAA regional Saturday at 4 in Stegeman, and georgiadogs has a video diary of a day in the life for junior Chelsea Davis.
The Dawgs on the track are down in Gainesville, Florida this weekend for the Florida Relays. This just after distance runner Brandon Lord freshman sprinter Derrick White took SEC Runner and Freshman of the Week honors on Tuesday.
Men's golf will be in Purchase, NY this Saturday for the Met Intercollegiate. And women's soccer blanked North Georgia 3-0 Thursday, and head to Auburn Sunday as their spring exhibition schedule continues.
And since I promised you a little football, here's a little pigskin. Thursday's practice report had the injury bug hit, nothing major it seems but more depth for doing work issues. Oh, and there is no defensive depth chart. All competition all over, with a certain former RB and now DB getting first team work yesterday at a safety spot (Hey Doc).
Now you're ready for the weekend. Go Dawgs!