WACO, Texas - The Baylor women's tennis duo of Kiah Generette and Blair Shankle will open its NCAA Doubles Championship run against Georgia’s Mariana Gould and Ellen Perez Thursday at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center in Tulsa, Okla.
“Kiah and Blair have had a lot of experience and success playing together,” head coach Joey Scrivano said. “They've had good preparation this week and are excited to play. If they can play the right way and with a lot of energy, they're a tough team to beat.”
The time for the match between the 20th-ranked Bears and 10th-ranked Bulldogs will be determined at a later time based on the amount of overlap between the NCAA Singles and Doubles Championships.
Generette and Shankle were one of 21 at-large selections into the 32-team doubles draw. This is the third-consecutive season that the Bears have a doubles team in the NCAA draw.
Generette, a senior, and Shankle, a junior, are 16-7 overall and 12-6 in dual-match action. The pairing went 5-1 in Big 12 action and boast a 6-5 record against ranked foes.
If the Bears win on Thursday, they will face the winner of Rice’s Katherine Ip/Emily Smith and UCLA’s Catherine Harrison/Kyle McPhillips. The Rice duo is ranked No. 57 and the Bruin pair is No. 7.
Shankle has earned ITA All-America doubles honors in each of the past two years, advancing to the quarterfinals last season with partner Ema Burgic, after making the 2014 quarterfinals with partner Victoria Kisialeva.
