University of Georgia Athletics
1994: A Spectacular Debut
May 24, 2017 | Women's Tennis
By John Frierson
UGAAA Staff Writer
The Georgia women's tennis team appeared in its first NCAA Championships final in 1987, losing 5-1 to Stanford in Los Angeles. The Lady Bulldogs were becoming a contender, nationally, and they fell to a red-hot program winning the second of what would be six straight national titles.
After knocking on the door in '87, Georgia really put its shoulder into it in 1994 and powered its way through. And the Lady Dogs did it on their home courts, in the first women's NCAAs held in Athens, and against mighty Stanford.
"It was a magical year: we had won the SEC regular-season title, we had won the SEC tournament and we'd won the National Team Indoors that year, so the NCAA tournament was the only one left," Georgia coach Jeff Wallace said recently.
While the men's tournament had been an almost annual event in Athens for nearly 20 years, 1994 was the women's debut. And it produced one of the most compelling finals ever, with Georgia winning the final two doubles matches — the format was singles first back then — to defeat the Cardinal, 5-4.
The crowd of more than 3,000 in Henry Feild Stadium roared as the team of Stacy Sheppard and Tina Samara at No. 2 doubles clinched the Georgia victory.
"It was just pure joy," said Lisa Salvatierra Rudloff, an All-SEC doubles player for Georgia in 1994.
The Lady Bulldogs finished the season 27-2, beating USC, Duke, California and Stanford on their way to the championship. Back in March, Georgia had won its first national team title at the USTA/ITA National Indoors, so it wasn't exactly an underdog at the NCAAs. But it had to work mighty hard to win the title.
Stanford, which lost in the national championship match here Tuesday, went on to win NCAA titles in Athens in 2004-05, part of three straight undefeated seasons, and again in 2010. But head coach Lele Forood, Frank Brennan's No. 2 for many years, including 1994, said the Cardinal didn't always feel at home here.
"We had the titanic loss in 1994 and that was an excruciating memory for us coaches," she said.
In many ways, the day belonged to Sheppard, who gave Georgia a chance in the doubles with a stunning rally in singles to even the team score at 3-all. She'd fought off a set point in the first set and won it in a tiebreaker, and then in the third she got behind 4-1. Sheppard, a fan favorite from Loganville, Ga., then got going, winning the final five games to take the victory.
"You never give up until the last point is played," she told reporters after the Georgia victory.
For that victory to happen would require another rally. Stanford had won at No. 3 doubles, beating Georgia's team of Salvatierra Rudloff and Anne Chauzu, to go up 4-3, but the home team did have in its favor Georgia's top-ranked team of Angela Lettiere and Michelle Anderson at No. 1.
The problem was, Anderson had a heel injury she was playing through and before the doubles matches began she got an injection.
"I swear, that needle was about a foot long," Salvatierra Rudloff said Wednesday. "I remember we had to hold her down while the shot was administered."
Wallace said he remembered trying to give a passionate pep talk and everyone just looking at the needle. Anderson was able to play and play well, and she and Lettiere won a pair of close sets to make it 4-4.
Sheppard and Samara kicked off the celebration with their 6-1, 7-5 win at No. 2, giving the program its first NCAA team championship.
"I've been waiting for this for a long time," Lettiere said afterward. "This is one of the best moments of my life. It doesn't matter what happens in the singles and doubles competitions. This is what means most."
In fact, Wallace said recently, Lettiere told him later that day that she wasn't interested in playing in the singles anymore — and she was already out of the doubles because of Anderson's injury.
"That night we're all super-excited and we're all celebrating and Angela comes up to me and she says, 'Jeff, I did what I set out to do, we won the NCAA tournament, and although I'm a top seed in the singles, I'd like to pull out. I'm tired and I don't think I can go on,'" Wallace recalled.
"I looked at her like, 'What, are you kidding me? You can win this tournament.'"
And she did, as the No. 3 seed — without dropping a set.
"She just played so well, it was incredible to watch," Salvatierra Rudloff said. "She played like there wasn't any pressure on her at all and won the whole thing."
It was a heck of a debut for the women's championships in Athens — the team final featured the largest crowd at that point to ever see a collegiate women's match — and it couldn't have gone much better for Georgia.
"I wish I could do it all over again tomorrow," Salvatierra Rudlof said.
John Frierson is the staff writer for the UGA Athletic Association and curator of the ITA Men's Tennis Hall of Fame. He's also on Twitter: @FriersonFiles and @ITAHallofFame.