University of Georgia Athletics
'The Mark Of A Great Team'
April 15, 2019 | Women's Tennis, The Frierson Files
By John Frierson
Staff Writer
There was no big celebration Sunday afternoon inside the Lindsey Hopkins Indoor Courts, no post-victory rumble that registered on the Richter scale.
The second-ranked Georgia women's tennis team won, again, beating No. 7 Vanderbilt, 4-1. That's 21 wins in 21 dual matches for the Bulldogs, all of them satisfying, some of them spectacular. Sunday's victory capped a perfect regular season and gave Georgia the SEC championship outright — all things to be savored, yes, but there is much work still to be done.
Freshman Lourdes Carle clinched Georgia's victory with a tough 6-3, 7-6 (7-5) win over 17th-ranked Christina Rosca at No. 3 singles. She also clinched Friday's 4-0 win over Kentucky, which was the Bulldogs' seventh straight shutout.
"When I clinch it's something special, for sure, but if my teammates don't win I could never clinch," she said. "It's a special match but it's also another match."
For coach Jeff Wallace, who also guided the 2002 Bulldogs to an undefeated regular season, it is important to acknowledge that the SEC and NCAA tournaments are still ahead while also taking time to appreciate what this team has already accomplished.
"I think you have to say that. It's been since 2002 that our program last went undefeated in the regular season, that's a long time ago, and I'm just super proud of these guys," said Wallace, Georgia's coach since 1986. "If you can't get excited and savor moments about championships and things of that nature, then you really don't need to be doing what you're doing (laughs).
"We know what's important in front of us and we know when it's time to regroup and get excited and get ready for that. For today, we need to be excited about what just happened here and this season that we've played and the accomplishments this team has made."
As I sat and watched Georgia win Sunday, a thought occurred: How the heck do you pick a team MVP from this extraordinary group of Bulldogs?
"They all in their own unique way have done a really good job and that's why we're dangerous, because we have lots of players that can step up at any moment and really shine," Wallace said. "That's what's important, that's the mark of a great team."
Wallace, in his 34th season, knows as much as anyone about great teams, having won two NCAA team titles, four ITA National Team Indoor Championships and by building a program that's always among the best in the country.
The Bulldogs, who have traded the No. 1 spot in the team rankings all spring with current No. 1 North Carolina, have the No. 1-ranked singles player in the country in sophomore Katarina Jokic — a dominant No. 1 that has proven again and again that she's tough as nails, especially in the biggest moments. Jokic, who won the ITA National Fall Singles Championship, improved to 19-3 in singles since the start of the fall season, including 9-2 at the No. 1 singles spot in the lineup.
Is that your team MVP? It's certainly the resume of one and she could wind up with conference and national player of the year honors.
But what about one of the four — yes, FOUR! — Bulldogs that didn't lose a singles match in SEC play: freshmen Carle and Meg Kowalski, sophomore Vivian Wolff and junior Elena Christofi. (It's worth noting here that there are no seniors on this squad.)
Carle hasn't lost a singles match since Feb. 12, which is really good. Christofi hasn't lost in singles since Feb. 11, which is even better, plus she and Wolff have won 13 of their last 14 doubles matches at No. 2, with the lone non-win coming in an unfinished match after Georgia clinched the doubles point without on April 7 at Missouri.
Then there's Wolff, who at No. 4 singles hasn't lost since Feb. 10. She went 12-0 in 13 conference matches and was up 5-0 in the third set of the one match that wasn't completed. And Wolff and Christofi were 12-0 in doubles. You could certainly make a case for Wolff being the SEC player of the year given that she never lost a conference match of any kind.
Wolff was the first Bulldog off the court in singles, winning fairly comfortably, as she often has this season.
"Obviously, it's absolutely amazing that this season is going so well, but it's important to stay humble and I'll start boasting once this season is complete," she said. "But right now it's just another day in the office."
There have been zero bad days at the office for Kowalski since she started playing for the Bulldogs — at least no days that ended with a loss. She wasn't yet a Bulldog the last time she lost a singles match.
Kowalski is 15-0 at No. 6 singles for Georgia and 19-0 overall as a Bulldog. She's been almost as successful in doubles: Kowalski and junior Marta Gonzalez clinched the hotly contested doubles point at No. 3 Sunday, winning in a tiebreaker, 7-3. and lifting the duo's record to 9-3.
Georgia's men's and women's teams refer to the Nos. 4-6 courts as The Pit — because the second set of three courts at Henry Feild Stadium are on a lower level than the top three — and that moniker has carried over to the Nos. 4-6 singles spots.
The Pit for the Georgia women has been almost unbeatable. In dual matches this season the trio of Wolff, Christofi and Kowalski is a combined 45-3. Good grief. Maybe that trio is the MVP, if there is one.
Or maybe it's all six of them, who have come together from all over the world — Bosnia, Spain, Argentina, Germany, Greece and Chicago — and played beautiful tennis, together, as a team.
"Everyone's a great player and that's why we're a really solid team," said Carle, the Argentinian. "It's also right that we work hard to be better every day — so we are not good because we have talent, we are good because we have talent and because we work so hard."
That hard work has led to a thrilling ITA National Indoors title, with 4-3 down-to-the-wire wins over the top three teams in the country at the time, and to an undefeated regular season and the program's 10th SEC regular-season crown.
"Mentally, (we're) very strong, we don't get ahead of ourselves, we keep our cool and we always live in the moment," Wolff said. "We don't look far ahead; if you do look far ahead you might put a lot of pressure on yourself, and this team has done that really well by just living in the moment."
And what a collection of moments it has been, with more to come.
John Frierson is the staff writer for the UGA Athletic Association and curator of the ITA Men's Tennis Hall of Fame. You can find his work at: Frierson Files. He's also on Twitter: @FriersonFiles and @ITAHallofFame.
