University of Georgia Athletics
Harvard Upsets Sixth-Ranked Georgia 4-3
February 02, 2006 | Women's Tennis
Feb. 2, 2006
Agate
MADISON, Wis. - Sixth-ranked Georgia was upset 4-3 by 19th-ranked Harvard as the Bulldogs were one of four seeds to fall in the first round of the USTA-ITA National Women's Team Indoor Championships Thursday.
Harvard (2-0) won four singles matches to rally past Georgia who dropped to 2-1 on the year. Junior Preethi Mukundan edged senior Evgenia Subbotina 6-4,0-6,6-4 at number five singles to clinch the win for the Crimson. Subbotina had clinched Georgia's first two wins this year including a 4-3 season-opening thriller over No. 20 William & Mary last week.
"We played hard but overall we got outplayed and ran in to a team that got hot against us," said Georgia coach Jeff Wallace. "We won doubles and played solid at number one and two but got blitzed at three and four. We had our chances at number five and six."
In other first round action, second seed Ga. Tech, third seed Northwestern and and sixth seed Baylor were upset. Top seed Stanford breezed past Kentucky 7-0 while eighth seed North Carolina defeated BYU 5-1. Host Wisconsin fell to seventh seed Miami, Fla., 5-2.
After Georgia won the doubles point, Harvard evened the match at 1-all when Melissa Anderson defeated junior Darya Ivanov 6-3,6-1 in the number four singles match. Junior Shadisa Robinson posted a 7-5,6-4 win over Elsa O'Riain at number two to make it 2-1 Bulldogs. Harvard tied the match again with a win at number six as Stephane Schitter outlasted Kelley Hyndman 7-6(5),6-4. Then, junior Natalie Frazier gave the Bulldogs a 3-2 advantage with a win at number one. Frazier dispatched Eva Wang 6-1,6-4. The Crimson responded with a victory at number three as Beier Ko defeated Caroline Basu 6-4,6-2 to knot the match at three-all. The match would be decided at number five as Subbotina trailed a set but was leading 3-0 in the second at that point.
At the start of the Georgia-Harvard contest, the Bulldogs grabbed a 1-0 lead by capturing the doubles point with wins at number two and three in the lineup. With the first team point on the line, the Georgia duo of Frazier/Hyndman beat Mukundan/Ko 8-4. Harvard's top duo was the first off the court as sixth-ranked O'Riain/Anderon posted an 8-2 win over Georgia's 12th-ranked tandem of Basu/Robinson at number one. Georgia's 20th-ranked duo of Subbotina/Ivanov improved to 12-1 this year with an 8-3 win over Wang/Schnitter at number two.
Georgia is now 2-1 all-time against the Crimson with all three meetings here at the USTA-ITA National Team Indoors. The USTA-ITA National Team Indoor Championship is collegiate tennis' premier indoor team tournament. The tournament began in 1988 and each season this tournament offers a preview of the teams to beat in the May NCAA Championships.
Tournament action can be followed with live scoring on www.ITAtennis.com. Georgia now falls to the consolation draw with its opponent Friday yet to be determined.
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