University of Georgia Athletics
University of Georgia
All-American Pre-Qualifying
Bulldogs Fall Short At All-American Event
October 03, 2010 | Women's Tennis
Oct. 3, 2010
LOS ANGELES-----Georgia freshmen Maho Kowase and Alina Jerjomina fell short in their bid to advance to the qualifying draw of the ITA All-American Championships here Sunday.
Connie Chieh Yu Hsu (Penn) rallied past Kowase 3-6,6-1,6-2 to advance while Jerjomina fell to Alex Cercone (Florida) 6-3,6-3 in the final round of pre-qualifying. Kowase and Jerjomina won a pair of matches each on Saturday to give them a shot at reaching the qualifying draw. Kowase posted straight set wins over Jessica Stiles (Kentucky) and Laura van de Stroet (Ole Miss) while Jerjomina outlasted Katariina Tuohimaa (TCU) in three sets and then dispatched Erin Vierra (Virginia).
"Overall, it was a good weekend with a lot of matches, and I thought the freshmen did fairly well in Los Angeles," said Georgia coach Jeff Wallace who was on the court for Kowase's match Sunday. "Maho started off strong winning the first set but you have to credit her opponent for fighting back and winning the match."
Georgia associate head coach Frank Polito was on the court for Jerjomina's third round match Sunday. He said it was a battle of ground strokes.
"It was really close, both players were ripping ground strokes, and in the end, Alex played better on the big points and that was the key," said Polito. "Alina fought hard in all three of her matches and really had a good win in the first round against Tuohimaa from TCU who is ranked 85th nationally."
Jerjomina is now 6-3 on the year including 1-1 against ranked foes while Kowase is 6-3. Also, Georgia freshman Lilly Kimbell went 1-1 at the event to give her a 5-3 mark this year. She defeated Courtney Collins (Memphis) 5-7,7-5,6-4 and then lost 6-3,7-6(2) to Sanaaa Bhambri (N.C. State). Georgia's two doubles teams lost in close first-round matches. The UCLA duo of Jones/Montez edged Kowase/Kate Fuller 9-7 while Jerjomina/Alex Anghelescu fell 8-6 to to Levy/Kurdadze (Tulane).
This grand slam event includes six rounds of pre-qualifying and qualifying along with a main draw as student-athletes compete for the first national singles and doubles titles of the 2010-11 collegiate season. The prequalifying rounds were held Oct. 2-3 on the UCLA campus and then the event moves to the Riviera Tennis Club in Pacific Palisades for the 26th consecutive year. Qualifying rounds will be Oct. 5-6 with main draw action slated Oct. 7-10.
Junior Nadja Gilchrist is the lone Bulldog in the qualifying singles draw. She will face Connor Vogel (Ole Miss) when first round action begins Tuesday. Gilchrist is 3-3 this year and ranked No. 31 nationally.
