University of Georgia Athletics
Dancevic Clinches Georgia's 4-3 Comeback Over Vanderbilt
April 06, 2008 | Women's Tennis
NASHVILLE, Tenn. --- The 10th-ranked Georgia women’s tennis team used a dramatic comeback to defeat No. 13 Vanderbilt, 4-3, Sunday at the Currey Tennis Center in Nashville.
“This was just a great college tennis match,” Georgia head coach Jeff Wallace said. “It took a great effort to fight back from being down 3-1, but our girls played super hard in singles and stayed in it until the end.”
The Bulldogs continued their struggles in doubles to open the contest and then fell behind 3-1 halfway through singles. However, victories by Yvette Hyndman and Adrienne Elsberry put Georgia back in a position to win.
With the score even at 3-all, the match came down to junior Monika Dancevic at No. 3 singles. Dancevic had dropped the first set to Taka Bertrand, 6-3, but then captured the second, 6-1. She fell behind 4-1 to her Commodore opponent in the third set, but came back to tie it up at 5-all. Despite relinquishing the lead one more time at 6-5, Dancevic stormed back to win in a tiebreaker, 7-6(4), and clinch the match for the Bulldogs.
It was the team-leading fifth time Dancevic has clinched a match this season, as she also used a comeback to give Georgia a 4-3 win earlier in the season over No. 1 Georgia Tech.
“Monika is just a strong player and has the ability to rise up when she is needed,” Wallace explained. “When she got down 4-1, she really started serving big and going for her shots, and she just out-played her opponent. She was the better player out there when she did the things she is capable of doing.”
Georgia improved to 16-4 with the win, as it now has posted four straight wins since falling at Arkansas on March 23. The Commodores dropped to 16-6 with their first loss in nearly a month.
The match started off with some back-and-forth doubles points until two Vanderbilt duos ran away with wins on courts one and three. Bertrand and Keilly Ulery finished first at No. 3 over Elsberry and Cameron Ellis, 8-3. The 54th-ranked pair of Amanda Taylor and Courtney Ulery clinched the doubles point with an 8-3 victory at No. 1 over 47th-ranked Kelley Hyndman and Monika Dancevic.
Y. Hyndman and Naoko Ueshima pushed their match to a tiebreaker at No. 2, but dropped it 7-5 in giving Vanderbilt a doubles sweep. It was the fourth time in the last five matches Georgia has dropped the doubles point.
“We’re a very dangerous team already, but we’ll be really dangerous when we can get our doubles play together,” Wallace said. “We’ve been able to come back from those early deficits, though, which is a real credit to our players and how hard they have fought in singles.”
Ueshima tied things up quickly at No. 4 singles with a 6-1, 6-2 victory over 61st-ranked Courtney Ulery, her 18th win in her last 20 completed matches. It was also the sixth ranked opponent the sophomore has defeated this year.
But the lead went right back to the Commodores when No. 23 Taylor handed No. 69 K. Hyndman an identical 6-1, 6-2 loss on the one court.
The lead extended to 3-1, as Cameron Ellis dropped just her fourth dual-match decision of the year at No. 5 singles.
But courts two and six were straight-sets decisions for Georgia. In the former, Y. Hyndman, ranked 49th in the country, won 6-4, 6-1, over 47th-ranked Catherine Newman, while Elsberry took her match, 6-2, 7-6(2), over Ferrell in the latter to even the score at 3-all.
“Naoko and Yvette have really been playing at the top of their game and continued that today,” Wallace said. “Adrienne has been on a roll as well, winning her last seven matches. I’m really impressed with the way they all battled today.”
Georgia returns to action next Saturday when it welcomes Tennessee to Athens at noon in the final home match of the year. K. Hyndman will be honored as part of Senior Day.
RESULTS
#10 Georgia 4, #13 Vanderbilt 3
SINGLES
1. #23 Amanda Taylor (VU) def. #69 Kelly Hyndman (UGA) 6-1, 6-2
2. #49 Yvette Hyndman (UGA) def. #47 Catherine Newman (VU) 6-4, 6-1
3. #84 Monika Dancevic (UGA) def. #96 Taka Bertrand (VU)
4. Naoko Ueshima (UGA) def. #61 Courtney Ulery (VU) 6-1, 6-2
5. Keilly Ulery (VU) def. Cameron Ellis (UGA) 6-4, 6-2
6. Adrienne Elsberry (UGA) def. Caroline Ferrell (VU) 6-2, 7-6(2)
DOUBLES
1. #54 Taylor/C. Ulery (VU) def. #47 K. Hyndman/Dancevic (UGA) 8-3
2. Newman/Ferrell (VU) def. #58 Y. Hyndman/Ueshima (UGA) 9-8(5)
3. Bertrand/K.Ulery (VU) def. Ellis/Elsberry (UGA) 8-3
Match Notes:
Vanderbilt 16-6, Georgia 16-4
Order of finish: Doubles (3,1,2); Singles (4,1,5,2,6,3)
