ATLANTA--Junior Abigail Tere-Apisah, a standout on the Georgia State women's tennis team that earned the program's first All-America honor last season, qualified for the main draw in the singles tournament at the 2012 Riviera/ITA Women's All-American Championships beginning in late September.

Tere-Apisah's entrance into the main draw ensures she will be one of the top-23 seeds in the tournament and avoid playing qualifying matches prior to taking on the nation's elite. The junior earned All-America status last season after advancing to the Round of 16 at the 2012 NCAA Women's Singles Championship held in Athens, Ga.

The Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, native is the highest-ranked player in the state of Georgia, entering the year ranked No. 23 in the ITA Women's Preseason Singles Rankings. At the NCAA Singles Championship last season Tere-Apisah defeated Santa Clara's Katie Le 7-6 (7-4), 5-7, 6-0 in the first round before knocking off Tennessee's Kata Szekely 6-3, 6-4 to clinch All-American status.

The Women's All-American Championships will run from Sept. 29 to Oct. 7 at the Riviera Tennis Club in Pacific Palisades, Calif. 23 participants, including Tere-Apisah, earned entry in the main draw while 52 players were selected to play in qualifying singles matches outside of the top 23 selected to the main draw. Prior to the qualifying matches are pre-qualifying matches, which fields 62 players outside of the 23 invited to the main draw and the 52 players entered into qualifying matches.

The junior has yet to play a tournament this fall but will see her first action this weekend in the star-studded Southern Shootout hosted by Georgia State at the Sharon Lester Tennis Center. The ITA-certified tournament features three teams that finished last season ranked nationally and four nationally-ranked singles players. Admission to all Georgia State matches at the Sharon Lester Tennis Center is free for all fans.

This week, Tere-Apisah was featured in an article on Yahoo.com by writer Rick Limpert. The article talks of Tere-Apisah's experience at the NCAA Singles Championship and her expectations for this season. It is available at this link.

Visit the women's tennis page on GeorgiaStateSports.com for links to live results and a preview of this weekend's event and for all coverage of the All-American Championships in late September.

www.GeorgiaStateSports.com