Greensboro, N.C. (2/18/09) -- Guilford College's men's tennis team was ranked fifth in the preseason Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) Coaches' Poll released Wednesday. The Quakers' women's tennis team earned the number-nine spot in the ODAC's women's preseason poll. The league's head coaches selected both polls.

Second-year head coach Eddie Luck's Quakers received 58 points in the men's poll. Washington and Lee University, the defending ODAC champion, earned all 10 first-place votes and the top spot in the rankings. Guilford returns four letter winners from last year's 10-9 team. Juniors Alec Chase, a 2008 Second Team All-ODAC second-singles honoree, and Will Mason-Deese, a two-time Second Team All-ODAC fourth-singles pick, are two of Guilford's key returners. The pair formed the Quakers' top doubles tandem in 2008. Junior Patrick Childs, sophomore Jack Friedman, plus three newcomers round out the lineup.

Guilford's women's tennis team, under the direction of Luck for the first year, returns five letter winners from last year's 11-9 club. The Quakers earned 41 votes in the preseason poll, which defending national runner-up Washington and Lee topped with 121 points and all 11 first-place votes. Sophomore Nina Bollag is the Quakers' top returning performer after occupying the first-singles rung in all but two dual matches in 2008. She also played on one of the Quakers' top-two doubles tandems a year ago. Junior Megan Fair is also back after pacing the Quakers with 14 singles wins as a sophomore.

Guilford will play on the Dorothy Ragsdale McMichael '37 Centennial Class Tennis Courts, funded by trustee Dalton L. "Mac" McMichael Jr. and his wife, Susan. The new six-court complex with rest-room facilities was completed in the fall.

Both squads opened their spring schedule last Sunday at home against cross-town rival Greensboro College. The Quakers' women won, 7-2, while Greensboro's men claimed a 5-4 victory.