Sunday, April 14
Athens, Ga.
1 P.M.
University of Georgia
4
vs
1
Vanderbilt
Photo by: How Lao Photography
Undefeated No. 2 Bulldogs Down No. 7 Commodores 4-1 to Win SEC Outright
April 14, 2019 | Women's Tennis
#2 Bulldogs Stay Undefeated, Improving to 21-0
ATHENS, Ga. – The No. 2 Georgia women's tennis team beat No. 7 Vanderbilt, 4-1, Sunday afternoon to stay undefeated and win the Southeastern Conference regular season championship outright.
For the second time in program history, the Bulldogs (21-0, 13-0 SEC) finished the regular season schedule with an unscathed record, joining the 2002 team. It also marked the first SEC team to end the conference slate without a loss since Florida did so in 2016. Georgia obtained its 10th SEC regular season title on Friday, and the win against the Commodores assured that the Bulldogs would not share the feat.
Vanderbilt (15-6, 10-3 SEC) completed its season as the No. 3 team in the conference standings. South Carolina (17-3, 12-1 SEC) was hoping for a tie for the title, but took the No. 2 spot.
"It's always a special thing when you win a championship like we won the indoor and when you clinch a conference title like we did Friday, and then to win it outright like we did today, it's always a special thing," Georgia head coach Jeff Wallace said. "Then on top of that, to go completely undefeated through the whole regular season, that doesn't happen often in too many sports at any level. For me, I've been coaching 34 years, and this is only the second time we've done that, so it's special. We're excited about it. It certainly needs to be celebrated a bit, but shortly thereafter next Wednesday, we're leaving for the SEC tournament, and we've got to get our minds right and get prepared for that, too. Then of course, the NCAA tournament after that, so we're excited about what we just did, but we're equally excited about what's in front of us."
The all-important doubles point came down to a tiebreaker on the last remaining court. Georgia's Marta Gonzalez and Meg Kowalski outlasted their opponents in an intense affair, sending the Bulldogs into singles with the momentum. In singles, sophomores Vivian Wolff and Katarina Jokic won to set the stage for freshman Lourdes Carle. The Daireaux, Argentina native came back from 5-6 in the second set to force a tiebreaker where she powered past her opponent for the clinch.
"Meg's [Kowalski] played good doubles all year, she really has, but Marta [Gonzalez] today was just on another planet," Wallace said. "She played so good. When we needed stops, she was there. I thought it was really cool, Meg said something in the locker room, complimenting her on how well she played and Meg did a good job out there, too, at some of the most important moments. However, Marta from start to finish was just a rock and played her best doubles of the year, and to get that doubles point I thought was what gave us a really big boost."
After the Commodores and the Bulldogs split the first two courts, attention shifted to court three as Gonzalez and Kowalski were battling Vanderbilt's Christina Rosca and Summer Dvorak. Down 5-6, the Bulldog duo broke Vandy's serve to force the tiebreaker. On the first point of the TB, Gonzalez smashed an overhead finisher at the net for a strong first stand. She then forced an error off a lob to go up 2-1, another net shot for 3-1, an unreturned serve to make it match point, and then to finish, she pounded four straight shots to the corner with the last being out of reach. The 7-6 (3) win was the third clinch for the Georgia twosome and their fifth victory in a row to boost their record to 9-3 in duals.
In order to get there, Wolff and junior Elena Christofi, ranked No. 74 in ITA doubles, defeated Georgia Drummy and Fernanda Contreras, 6-3, on court two. That increased their untarnished record to 13-0 overall, including 12 conference wins.
"You don't want to overlook No. 2 doubles and what they did out there, and you certainly don't want to overlook Vivian [Wolff] and her singles because she seems like she's always the first one off the court," Wallace added. "She is just playing unbelievably great tennis and just figures it out and gets it done, so I'm just very excited about what she's done. I think Kat's [Jokic] opponent was really just playing some incredibly good tennis, and it took everything Kat had to figure out ways to move that ball around and get those errors and I thought she was just mentally locked in at all the right moments and really did a great job."
Wolff, ranked No. 53 in ITA singles, was first off the court with a win for the second time this weekend and the ninth time this season. The Frankfurt, Germany product dispatched freshman Carolyn Campana, 6-2, 6-4, on court four to up her team-best record to 27-3, finish SEC play undefeated at 12-0 and mark her 15th-straight win.
On court one, Jokic, the No. 1-ranked player in the nation, maneuvered through No. 68 Georgia Drummy, 6-4, 6-4, to improve to 19-3 overall and 9-2 in the dual season.
Vanderbilt got on the scoreboard as No. 7 Fernanda Contreras edged Gonzalez, ranked No. 20, 7-6 (4), 6-3, on court two, for the 3-1 score. The point for the Commodores put an end to Georgia's streak of 34-straight points.
Soon thereafter, Carle, ranked No. 87, notched her highest-ranked win of her career, defeating No. 17 Christina Rosca, 6-3, 7-6(5). The tiebreaker was tied 5-all, but Carle didn't falter after, winning the last two points for her second clinch of the weekend and fifth of the season.
"I thought she [Carle] really played great tennis," Wallace said. "The first set and about half the second set was just high level stuff, and then [Christina] Rosca of Vandy just stopped missing, and her forehand got big, and it turned into a battle. I thought Lourdes showed some maturity. I think back at the National Indoors if this was the case, she would've lacked the discipline that we saw today. I think that's where she has matured some, and let some things go and put some things behind her and continued to compete. I think that's really important, and it shows that if you do that, it can work, and I think that'll help her down the road, too."
Next, Georgia will travel Wednesday morning for the SEC Tournament, which is on the campus of Texas A&M in College Station, Texas. As the No. 1-seed the Bulldogs have a double-bye and will play Friday against either LSU or Alabama.
Player's Perspective
Katarina Jokic
On today's performance...
"Well obviously, we played a really good team and everyone was excited to play them and to win the SEC without losing a match. I was really focused today because we played indoors and everything is faster. I was just thinking about the very next point and did my best to perform well."
For the second time in program history, the Bulldogs (21-0, 13-0 SEC) finished the regular season schedule with an unscathed record, joining the 2002 team. It also marked the first SEC team to end the conference slate without a loss since Florida did so in 2016. Georgia obtained its 10th SEC regular season title on Friday, and the win against the Commodores assured that the Bulldogs would not share the feat.
Vanderbilt (15-6, 10-3 SEC) completed its season as the No. 3 team in the conference standings. South Carolina (17-3, 12-1 SEC) was hoping for a tie for the title, but took the No. 2 spot.
"It's always a special thing when you win a championship like we won the indoor and when you clinch a conference title like we did Friday, and then to win it outright like we did today, it's always a special thing," Georgia head coach Jeff Wallace said. "Then on top of that, to go completely undefeated through the whole regular season, that doesn't happen often in too many sports at any level. For me, I've been coaching 34 years, and this is only the second time we've done that, so it's special. We're excited about it. It certainly needs to be celebrated a bit, but shortly thereafter next Wednesday, we're leaving for the SEC tournament, and we've got to get our minds right and get prepared for that, too. Then of course, the NCAA tournament after that, so we're excited about what we just did, but we're equally excited about what's in front of us."
The all-important doubles point came down to a tiebreaker on the last remaining court. Georgia's Marta Gonzalez and Meg Kowalski outlasted their opponents in an intense affair, sending the Bulldogs into singles with the momentum. In singles, sophomores Vivian Wolff and Katarina Jokic won to set the stage for freshman Lourdes Carle. The Daireaux, Argentina native came back from 5-6 in the second set to force a tiebreaker where she powered past her opponent for the clinch.
"Meg's [Kowalski] played good doubles all year, she really has, but Marta [Gonzalez] today was just on another planet," Wallace said. "She played so good. When we needed stops, she was there. I thought it was really cool, Meg said something in the locker room, complimenting her on how well she played and Meg did a good job out there, too, at some of the most important moments. However, Marta from start to finish was just a rock and played her best doubles of the year, and to get that doubles point I thought was what gave us a really big boost."
After the Commodores and the Bulldogs split the first two courts, attention shifted to court three as Gonzalez and Kowalski were battling Vanderbilt's Christina Rosca and Summer Dvorak. Down 5-6, the Bulldog duo broke Vandy's serve to force the tiebreaker. On the first point of the TB, Gonzalez smashed an overhead finisher at the net for a strong first stand. She then forced an error off a lob to go up 2-1, another net shot for 3-1, an unreturned serve to make it match point, and then to finish, she pounded four straight shots to the corner with the last being out of reach. The 7-6 (3) win was the third clinch for the Georgia twosome and their fifth victory in a row to boost their record to 9-3 in duals.
In order to get there, Wolff and junior Elena Christofi, ranked No. 74 in ITA doubles, defeated Georgia Drummy and Fernanda Contreras, 6-3, on court two. That increased their untarnished record to 13-0 overall, including 12 conference wins.
"You don't want to overlook No. 2 doubles and what they did out there, and you certainly don't want to overlook Vivian [Wolff] and her singles because she seems like she's always the first one off the court," Wallace added. "She is just playing unbelievably great tennis and just figures it out and gets it done, so I'm just very excited about what she's done. I think Kat's [Jokic] opponent was really just playing some incredibly good tennis, and it took everything Kat had to figure out ways to move that ball around and get those errors and I thought she was just mentally locked in at all the right moments and really did a great job."
Wolff, ranked No. 53 in ITA singles, was first off the court with a win for the second time this weekend and the ninth time this season. The Frankfurt, Germany product dispatched freshman Carolyn Campana, 6-2, 6-4, on court four to up her team-best record to 27-3, finish SEC play undefeated at 12-0 and mark her 15th-straight win.
On court one, Jokic, the No. 1-ranked player in the nation, maneuvered through No. 68 Georgia Drummy, 6-4, 6-4, to improve to 19-3 overall and 9-2 in the dual season.
Vanderbilt got on the scoreboard as No. 7 Fernanda Contreras edged Gonzalez, ranked No. 20, 7-6 (4), 6-3, on court two, for the 3-1 score. The point for the Commodores put an end to Georgia's streak of 34-straight points.
Soon thereafter, Carle, ranked No. 87, notched her highest-ranked win of her career, defeating No. 17 Christina Rosca, 6-3, 7-6(5). The tiebreaker was tied 5-all, but Carle didn't falter after, winning the last two points for her second clinch of the weekend and fifth of the season.
"I thought she [Carle] really played great tennis," Wallace said. "The first set and about half the second set was just high level stuff, and then [Christina] Rosca of Vandy just stopped missing, and her forehand got big, and it turned into a battle. I thought Lourdes showed some maturity. I think back at the National Indoors if this was the case, she would've lacked the discipline that we saw today. I think that's where she has matured some, and let some things go and put some things behind her and continued to compete. I think that's really important, and it shows that if you do that, it can work, and I think that'll help her down the road, too."
Next, Georgia will travel Wednesday morning for the SEC Tournament, which is on the campus of Texas A&M in College Station, Texas. As the No. 1-seed the Bulldogs have a double-bye and will play Friday against either LSU or Alabama.
Player's Perspective
Katarina Jokic
On today's performance...
"Well obviously, we played a really good team and everyone was excited to play them and to win the SEC without losing a match. I was really focused today because we played indoors and everything is faster. I was just thinking about the very next point and did my best to perform well."
Lourdes Carle
On today's performance...
"I'm really happy. I'm so excited for our win today. It wouldn't be the same without my teammates supporting me because it was a tough match that I had. I was kind of tired by the end of the match, but my teammates were always there and for me that was a lot of support. I'm so happy for the team, we're doing so great. I think we are working so hard and that's why we are doing so well. So, I hope we keep doing it like that."
Players Mentioned
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