Several members of the Georgia women’s tennis team enjoyed a solid start at the 2009 Wilson/ITA Southeast Regional Tennis Championships Friday in Atlanta.

The action began with doubles in the morning and the Bulldog duo of Cameron Ellis and Naoko Ueshima registered an 8-5 win over Ashley Hungerford and Kristi Kegerreis (Georgia Southern). Georgia’s top duo of Chelsey Gullickson and Nadja Gilchrist is the tournament’s No. 2 seed and earned a first round bye. Up next on Saturday, both Bulldog tandems will face teams from Florida State. The Ellis-Ueshima duo will battle the eighth seeded team of Lauren McCreless and Francesca Segarelli. The Gullickson-Gilchrist duo, ranked sixth nationally, goes up against Amy Sargeant and Federica Suess.

Singles play was hampered by rain as action moved indoors. In the first round, Gilchrist, seeded seventh and ranked No. 43 nationally, dispatched South Florida freshman Ecaterina Vasenina 6-3,6-2. Ellis, who is ranked No. 108, cruised past Florida International freshman Magali Holt 6-2,6-1. Ueshima was slated to face Stetson sophomore Shannon Gunning Friday. Meanwhile Gullickson, who won this event last year in Athens, has already earned a spot in the ITA national indoor tournament based on her No. 2 national ranking.

The singles and doubles winners along with the singles finalist will advance to the ITA National Indoor Championships next month in New Haven, Conn. The elite event, slated for Nov. 5-8, is the second collegiate grand slam event of the season. Winners and finalists from the various ITA Regional Championships around the country plus at-large selections will make up the singles field of 32 and the 16-team doubles draw.

- Georgia Sports Communications