University of Georgia Athletics
Georgia's Cioroch Falls in NCAA Semifinals
May 24, 2003 | Women's Tennis
May 24, 2003
GAINESVILLE, FLA. -- Top-ranked Vilmarie Castellvi of Tennessee ended Georgia's Agata Cioroch's bid for an NCAA singles crown, posting a 7-5,6-2 semifinal win here Friday.
Castellvi will play for the NCAA singles title Saturday against Stanford's Amber Liu, a straight-set winner over USC's Jewel Petterson. Cioroch, ranked third nationally, ends the season at 32-5 with two of those losses coming to Castellvi.
The first set Friday went to 5-5 before Castellvi seized control en route to the victory.
"She (Vilmarie) keeps a lot of balls in play, and you just need to be very aggressive," said Cioroch. "She runs everywhere. She's everywhere, so it's tough to win points against her. I was definitely tired today, and it definitely affected my game."
Castellvi said she had quite a battle to reach the final.
"The match today was very competitive and could have gone either way," said Castellvi. "I just tried to stay out there as long as I could and make the points very long because I knew that the longer I made it, the better it was for me.
"She (Agata Cioroch) came out playing very well. She was hitting many shots and she was making most of them."
Cioroch's semifinal showing at the NCAA was the best by a Bulldog since the 2000 event when Aarthi Venkatesan reached the semifinals. Georgia's Lisa Spain (1984) and Angela Lettiere (1994) have won the NCAA singles title. Cioroch earned All-America honors in singles and doubles this year. Georgia will play host to the 2004 NCAA Women's Tennis Championships next May.
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