University of Georgia Athletics
Seattle Strength Powering Bulldogs
May 17, 2019 | Women's Tennis, The Frierson Files
By John Frierson
Staff Writer
When the top-seeded Georgia women's tennis team knocked off a very good No. 16 Michigan squad, 4-2, last Saturday, in the round of 16 of the NCAA Championships, the Bulldogs did so on their home courts at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex.
But in many ways, that match, and many tough ones like it this spring, was won back in February, during a momentous and long-lasting weekend in Seattle.
"We always remember the Seattle matches," freshman standout Lourdes Carle said after the Bulldogs took down the Wolverines to advance to today's quarterfinal match against an excellent Vanderbilt team.
It was in Seattle that this brilliant bunch of Bulldogs — 26 wins in 27 matches this season, an undefeated regular season and an SEC championship — formed its identity and became as battle-tested as a team can be. Ranked No. 5 in the country going into the ITA National Team Indoor Championships in Seattle, Georgia beat the top three teams in the country on its way to the title, with all three wins coming in thrilling, 4-3 fashion.
Georgia beat then-No. 14 N.C. State 4-2 the first day, and because of a schedule crunch due to inclement weather the day before, the singles was played first and the match didn't reach doubles. The next three matches all started with doubles and all started with the Bulldogs down 1-0, having lost the doubles point to Vanderbilt in the quarterfinals, Stanford in the semis and North Carolina in the final.
"We started out losing all the doubles points, so that (shows) that we are tough and we compete when things are not going well," Carle said. "That's why we are a good team."
That's certainly part of why Georgia is a good team, one that has spent much of the season going back and forth with UNC at the top of the rankings. The Tar Heels are technically the No. 1-ranked team in the country right now, but Georgia was given the top seed in the NCAA tournament. And that weekend in Seattle is a big reason why.
Against then-No. 2 Vanderbilt in the quarters, it took an incredible rally from 5-0 down in the third set by junior Elena Christofi at No. 5 singles to give Georgia the win. Rallies like that don't happen too often, but this team has shown a knack for them throughout the season.
Georgia beat Vandy 4-1 in the regular-season finale, in Athens, a match also played indoors due to bad weather. When the Bulldogs and eighth-seeded Commodores meet in Orlando, Fla., Friday afternoon, it will be outdoors and around 90 degrees at the USTA National Campus facility.
After beating the Commodores, rallying after losing the doubles point, Georgia did it again the next day against then-No. 1 Stanford. With the match even at 3-3, it was Katarina Jokic at No. 1 singles that delivered the clincher, winning 6-3 in the third set. It was a great, dramatic win, but nothing compared to the final.
In the title match against UNC, everything again came down to the No. 1 singles match, where Jokic, a sophomore, showed nerves of steel in winning the third-set tiebreaker, 7-2, before being mobbed by her delirious teammates.
"We didn't have any experience going into that, we were just trying to figure out how to do it right," coach Jeff Wallace said of his young team heading into the Indoors. "We did a great job and we did it right and now we know how to do it right. As coaches, that's what we preach and as players, that's what they believe will work"
The Bulldogs not only came home with the big trophy — Georgia's fourth National Indoors title, to go along with the program's two NCAA championships — but it came home a different team. This starting six, with two freshmen and no seniors, which was still figuring each other out and finding its identity, this group got off the plane as one unit, a confident, battle-tested, championship unit.
"I guess we gained that confidence at the National Indoors when we were in Seattle," said junior Marta Gonzalez, who plays No. 2 singles. "We're a brand-new team, we're very young with no seniors, so I think being able to overcome all that in Seattle has made us stronger.
"We know that no matter what happens in doubles we, all six courts, are going to be competing our best."
And Georgia's best has proven to be the best in the country this season. The Bulldogs will need to be at their best again today and hopefully a couple more times in Orlando, in order to bring home the biggest and best trophy of all.
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.
Players Mentioned
