NOVEMBER 14, 2007 --- FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  

SMC Tennis Receives Highest Ever Pre-Season Rankings
Three Men, Four Women Ranked In Top Of NJCAA Field 

SPARTANBURG – The Spartanburg Methodist College tennis teams have received their highest ever pre-season rankings. 

In rankings recently released by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association, SMC’s men’s tennis team is tied at 14th out of 27 men’s teams in the National Junior College Athletic Association. 

“We are all so pleased with these rankings.  This shows that we have great talent on our teams and that people are taking notice of the SMC tennis program,” says head tennis coach Jim Greene. 

Three members of the SMC men’s team have received individual rankings. In a field of 75, SMC’s Christian Ranguelov, of Austria, is ranked 30th, along with Marshall Dudley, of Darlington, SC, at 66th and Gordon Arledge, of Camden, SC, at 75th. 

The doubles pair of Ranguelov and Mark Boswell, of Piedmont, SC, is ranked 24th out of 30 doubles team. Arledge and Dudley are ranked 30th. 

On the women’s side, Margaret Daughtery, of Lexington, SC, is ranked 89th out of 137 players, with teammates Blayton Thompson, of Darlington, SC, at 98th, Kristen Swain, of Woodruff, SC, at 127th, and Annastacia Laing, of Bluffton, SC, at 128th. 

In doubles, Daughtery and Thompson are ranked 45th, with Swain and Laing ranked 58th. 

Greene adds that with the rigorous fall season scrimmage schedules that the two teams played, with the men defeating two NCAA Division II colleges and one NAIA level college,  the SMC tennis teams have gotten off to a great start for the spring season. 

“With us having the only tennis teams in NJCAA Region X, people expect a lot out of us – and we’re going to give it to them this season. Our players are talented, determined, and will be on top of their game this spring,” says SMC Athletic Director Mark Perdue. 

Spartanburg Methodist College has 14 intercollegiate teams that compete in Region X of the National Junior College Athletic Association, which includes colleges in the Carolinas, Virginia, and West Virginia. 

The College is in its 97th year of providing a quality education to students in a Christian environment. More than 90 percent of SMC graduates continue their education at other institutions of higher learning. 

For more information please contact coach Jim Greene at (864) 587-4353 or athletic director Mark Perdue at (864) 587-4237.

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