University of Georgia Athletics
A Special Season, A Thrilling Ending
May 08, 2020 | Women's Tennis, The Frierson Files
By John Frierson
Staff Writer
Lori Giuggio was at a Celine Dion concert in January when she was transported back in time 20 years, to a magical stretch of days in Malibu, Calif.
Many a person has had many a special time in Malibu, but for the members of the 2000 Georgia women's tennis team, their run to the NCAA title that May was among the most extraordinary and memorable of their lives. And Dion's song "That's The Way It Is" was right in the middle of it.
"Our Celine Dion song that we had, every time I hear it, it takes me back," said Guiggio, who was still Lori Grey during her playing days for the Bulldogs. "You hear that one silly song — it's not silly, because she's amazing — but that brings it back."
When Dion started singing the song at her concert, the memories came flooding back, she said, as they always do. "My husband was like, 'Isn't that your song?'"
It was her song and the team's song, one they sang together often, on the van rides to and from the tennis facility at Pepperdine University, in the training room and on the court after winning one of the most thrilling NCAA Championship finals of all time.
Just like when Georgia won its first NCAA title, in 1994, the Bulldogs had to knock off a mighty Stanford team in the finals. The 2000 Stanford squad had won the 1999 NCAA title and was riding a 48-match win streak when they took the court against the Bulldogs.
"I told my team a lot, we're playing maybe the best Stanford team in the history of all their great championship teams that they've had," coach Jeff Wallace said. "I said, yeah, it's their coach's (Frank Brennan) last match, but let me say this, it's not the NBA playoffs, it's not four out of seven. It's one match and anything can happen in one match.
A lot did happen in the match, particularly when it was 4-4 with only one doubles match remaining, at the No. 1 spot. (In 2000, teams still played first one to five points, with the singles first and then 8-game pro-sets in doubles.) Georgia's team of senior Marissa Catlin and Giuggio, a freshman, were ranked No. 2 in the country and playing Stanford's fourth-ranked duo of Marissa Irvin and Teryn Ashley.
Catlin and Giuggio had jumped out to a 6-1 lead and all seemed well, right? Among the Georgia players watching and cheering like mad courtside was Guiggio's older sister, now Christa Macsay, who was a junior.
"When she was in the last doubles match, to win it, I was so nervous," Macsay said. "Not only was our team in it but that's my little sister out there. That was really special.
"I knew that she was just tough as nails and I knew that she was playing doubles with a senior, and I just knew that Marissa would take care of her and that Lori would keep fighting."
Up 6-1, Georgia just needed two more games, eight more points. If it's not in the bag, it's most of the way there.
"I'm feeling like, OK, this is awesome," Wallace said, laughing. "It's 6-1 in an 8-game pro-set, for the national championship, we got this, right? Next thing you know it's 6-2 and then it's 6-3, then it's 6-4 and now things are getting a little bit tighter."
"They gave us this video from that season and the NCAAs," Giuggio said, "and there's one shot of my sister when she and everyone are watching us in that final doubles match, and she looks like she's about to throw up."
After Stanford made it 6-5, Wallace talked to his talented duo during the changeover: "I'm like, guys, we've got to stop the bleeding here." But the Cardinal surge continued and suddenly it as 7-6 Stanford.
"It was like, oh, my gosh, we could lose this," Giuggio said.
Catlin got four first serves in during the next game and held at love, Wallace said, stopping the slide, tying the match at 7-all and giving all the Bulldogs a chance to exhale for a moment. Soon after, it was 8-all and a tiebreaker would determine the national championship.
Georgia gained the upper hand midway through the tiebreaker, with the help of a return of serve that hit the net cord and then dropped onto Stanford's side, hitting the bottom of the net — a lucky winner at a time when single point is critical. Not long after, Catlin stepped to the baseline to serve on match point.
"Team match point, national championship match point, what do you want your players to do? You want them to get the first serve in and serve it to the weaker side (of the returner)," Wallace said. "She did both those things and they put the ball in the bottom of the net — national championship done [laughs]."
Sure, easy as can be.
"I remember match point and then we just sprinted over there and were all hugging each other and jumping up and down and looking at each other kind of in disbelief, like, wow, did this really happen? And it did," Macsay said. "Then the announcer played our song and we were singing it."
Earlier in the tournament, the public-address announcer had been in the training room and had heard Georgia's players singing that Celine Dion song, Macsay said, so when the Bulldogs won the championship that song began to blast from the speakers.
"It was just a really special moment for all of us to share because we were already so close and to top our season off with that was just really amazing," Macsay said. "That was probably one of the top moments of my life. I still remember it to this day, I still get excited about it."
Macsay lives with her family in Wilmington, N.C., and is a volunteer assistant coach on the UNC-Wilmington women's team. Giuggio lives with her family in the Atlanta area and teaches tennis, and that NCAA final, particularly that wild doubles match to decide it all, is something she talks about to her players.
"Tennis is such an up-and-down sport, it's just such a rollercoaster," she said. The message is: when you're down, you're not out — and when you're up big and then down, you're also not out. Just keep playing, keep competing and incredible things can happen, as they did 20 years ago in Malibu for a very special Georgia women's tennis team.
From up 6-1 to down 7-6 to national champions. "The next thing you know, we won," Giuggio said. "I still can't believe it."
Staff Writer
Lori Giuggio was at a Celine Dion concert in January when she was transported back in time 20 years, to a magical stretch of days in Malibu, Calif.
Many a person has had many a special time in Malibu, but for the members of the 2000 Georgia women's tennis team, their run to the NCAA title that May was among the most extraordinary and memorable of their lives. And Dion's song "That's The Way It Is" was right in the middle of it.
"Our Celine Dion song that we had, every time I hear it, it takes me back," said Guiggio, who was still Lori Grey during her playing days for the Bulldogs. "You hear that one silly song — it's not silly, because she's amazing — but that brings it back."
When Dion started singing the song at her concert, the memories came flooding back, she said, as they always do. "My husband was like, 'Isn't that your song?'"
It was her song and the team's song, one they sang together often, on the van rides to and from the tennis facility at Pepperdine University, in the training room and on the court after winning one of the most thrilling NCAA Championship finals of all time.
Just like when Georgia won its first NCAA title, in 1994, the Bulldogs had to knock off a mighty Stanford team in the finals. The 2000 Stanford squad had won the 1999 NCAA title and was riding a 48-match win streak when they took the court against the Bulldogs.
"I told my team a lot, we're playing maybe the best Stanford team in the history of all their great championship teams that they've had," coach Jeff Wallace said. "I said, yeah, it's their coach's (Frank Brennan) last match, but let me say this, it's not the NBA playoffs, it's not four out of seven. It's one match and anything can happen in one match.
A lot did happen in the match, particularly when it was 4-4 with only one doubles match remaining, at the No. 1 spot. (In 2000, teams still played first one to five points, with the singles first and then 8-game pro-sets in doubles.) Georgia's team of senior Marissa Catlin and Giuggio, a freshman, were ranked No. 2 in the country and playing Stanford's fourth-ranked duo of Marissa Irvin and Teryn Ashley.
Catlin and Giuggio had jumped out to a 6-1 lead and all seemed well, right? Among the Georgia players watching and cheering like mad courtside was Guiggio's older sister, now Christa Macsay, who was a junior.
"When she was in the last doubles match, to win it, I was so nervous," Macsay said. "Not only was our team in it but that's my little sister out there. That was really special.
"I knew that she was just tough as nails and I knew that she was playing doubles with a senior, and I just knew that Marissa would take care of her and that Lori would keep fighting."
Up 6-1, Georgia just needed two more games, eight more points. If it's not in the bag, it's most of the way there.
"I'm feeling like, OK, this is awesome," Wallace said, laughing. "It's 6-1 in an 8-game pro-set, for the national championship, we got this, right? Next thing you know it's 6-2 and then it's 6-3, then it's 6-4 and now things are getting a little bit tighter."
"They gave us this video from that season and the NCAAs," Giuggio said, "and there's one shot of my sister when she and everyone are watching us in that final doubles match, and she looks like she's about to throw up."
After Stanford made it 6-5, Wallace talked to his talented duo during the changeover: "I'm like, guys, we've got to stop the bleeding here." But the Cardinal surge continued and suddenly it as 7-6 Stanford.
"It was like, oh, my gosh, we could lose this," Giuggio said.
Catlin got four first serves in during the next game and held at love, Wallace said, stopping the slide, tying the match at 7-all and giving all the Bulldogs a chance to exhale for a moment. Soon after, it was 8-all and a tiebreaker would determine the national championship.
Georgia gained the upper hand midway through the tiebreaker, with the help of a return of serve that hit the net cord and then dropped onto Stanford's side, hitting the bottom of the net — a lucky winner at a time when single point is critical. Not long after, Catlin stepped to the baseline to serve on match point.
"Team match point, national championship match point, what do you want your players to do? You want them to get the first serve in and serve it to the weaker side (of the returner)," Wallace said. "She did both those things and they put the ball in the bottom of the net — national championship done [laughs]."
Sure, easy as can be.
"I remember match point and then we just sprinted over there and were all hugging each other and jumping up and down and looking at each other kind of in disbelief, like, wow, did this really happen? And it did," Macsay said. "Then the announcer played our song and we were singing it."
Earlier in the tournament, the public-address announcer had been in the training room and had heard Georgia's players singing that Celine Dion song, Macsay said, so when the Bulldogs won the championship that song began to blast from the speakers.
"It was just a really special moment for all of us to share because we were already so close and to top our season off with that was just really amazing," Macsay said. "That was probably one of the top moments of my life. I still remember it to this day, I still get excited about it."
Macsay lives with her family in Wilmington, N.C., and is a volunteer assistant coach on the UNC-Wilmington women's team. Giuggio lives with her family in the Atlanta area and teaches tennis, and that NCAA final, particularly that wild doubles match to decide it all, is something she talks about to her players.
"Tennis is such an up-and-down sport, it's just such a rollercoaster," she said. The message is: when you're down, you're not out — and when you're up big and then down, you're also not out. Just keep playing, keep competing and incredible things can happen, as they did 20 years ago in Malibu for a very special Georgia women's tennis team.
From up 6-1 to down 7-6 to national champions. "The next thing you know, we won," Giuggio said. "I still can't believe it."
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.
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