University of Georgia Athletics
Vidmanova, Bulldogs Keep Shining On Big Stages
November 27, 2024 | Women's Tennis, The Frierson Files
By John Frierson
Staff Writer
At the rate that finals are being reached and championships are being won, the Georgia women's tennis team is going to need to expand its trophy room soon. Last Sunday, in her third different NCAA final since mid-May, Dasha Vidmanova captured the program's fourth all-time NCAA singles title.
Last May, Vidmanova helped lead the Bulldogs to a share of the SEC regular-season title (with Texas A&M), then Georgia beat A&M to win the SEC tournament title, and then the teams met again in the finals of the NCAA team tournament, with the Aggies coming out on top. In last spring's NCAA individual events, Vidmanova and Aysegul Mert won Georgia's first national championship in doubles while teammate Anastasiia Lopata advanced all the way to the singles final.
At the inaugural fall NCAA Singles and Doubles Championships last Sunday — they're typically held in the spring after the NCAA team event but the NCAA is trying out having them in the fall this year and next — Vidmanova became the first player in Georgia women's tennis' illustrious history to win an NCAA singles and doubles title in her career. In the finals of the singles tourney, the senior from Prague dominated DJ Bennett of Auburn, winning 6-3, 6-3.
"It means a lot winning doubles last year and singles was definitely one of the goals for this year, and I'm really happy that I could achieve it for myself and for Georgia — I know it means a lot," Vidmanova said in her post-match news conference.
For head coach Drake Bernstein, what Vidmanova did in Waco was just a continuation of what she's been doing for a couple of years now.
"I think that's what we've gotten familiar with — somebody that's going to be competitive and really, no matter the circumstances or how good or bad she's playing on a particular day, she's going to give herself a chance competitively," Bernstein said Tuesday. "That's what it takes to get through a 64(-player) draw at the NCAAs. You're not going to be at your best every day, but she was at her best in the final.
"It's the Dasha we've gotten used to seeing."
As a sophomore, Vidmanova went 33-7 in singles, was named All-SEC and an All-American in singles, and finished the year ranked No. 10 in the final ITA ranking. Last year, she was again All-SEC and an All-American in singles and doubles, reaching the quarterfinals of the NCAA singles. She went 26-9 in singles, finished the year ranked No. 4, and teamed up with Mert to make history by winning the doubles national championship.
Women's tennis' first NCAA singles title came in 1984 when Lisa Spain Short capped off an amazing career — she's now in the ITA Women's Hall of Fame — with a national championship. Ten years later, in 1994, when Georgia hosted the NCAAs for the first time, Angela Lettiere led the Bulldogs to their first NCAA team title and followed that by winning the singles. Chelsey Gullickson was Georgia's third NCAA singles champ, winning the title in 2010.
Vidmanova was red-hot heading to Baylor after winning a pro tournament, the Miami W35 event, earlier this month. Vidmanova beat former teammate Lea Ma in the semis of that event and pulled out a three-set win in the final. She was the No. 2 seed in the 64-player NCAA singles field, but it wasn't an easy stroll to the final.
After cruising in her first-round match, Vidmanova needed three sets to beat 9-16 seed Savannah Broadus of Pepperdine in the second round. She dropped just five games in her quarterfinal win over A&M's Nicole Khirin, and reached the final with a three-set win over Michigan's seventh-seeded Julia Fliegner, 4-6, 6-2, 6-2. In the final against Bennett, Vidmanova got up early in each set and was in control throughout the match.
On match point, Vidmanova ended it with a crosscourt forehand winner — and then merely threw up a modest fist pump to celebrate the national championship. Bernstein said he and his coaches encourage their players to be true to their personalities on court, and in Vidmanova's case, that means not being overly exuberant.
"What she does on the court should reflect who she is," Bernstein said. "The goal is to be able to be yourself and to not let the stage change what you were doing. In that sense, she did a great job there."
Vidmanova is just the sixth women's player since 1979 to win the NCAA singles and doubles championships in her career. Whether it's playing for championships in the SEC or at the national level, Vidmanova has a lot of experience on the biggest stages of college tennis, and that no doubt helped her in the NCAA singles final.
"That's one of the things we talked about — she's played in every match that college tennis has to offer," Bernstein said.
Lopata, ranked No. 13, has also had a big fall, winning a pro event, the Hilton Head W35, in October, and earlier this month, instead of trying to earn a spot at the NCAAs, she joined the Ukrainian national team for a Billie Jean King Cup match against Austria in Dallas.
Under the new NCAAs format, the spring will now be all about the team. And Georgia returns everyone from last year's squad which won two SEC championships and came up a match short of winning the program's third NCAA team title. Bernstein is already counting down the days to the dual-match opener against Georgia Tech in January.
"We've done well," Bernstein said," and it's a coach's answer, but the only thing that's on my mind is getting ready to play Georgia Tech on Jan. 17th. ... We like to think of Georgia as the greatest college tennis experience that exists, and I'm glad that our players have gotten to experience that and have a lot of success, but the tide keeps turning and there's something else to do.
"We like to keep our eyes forward and do the duty that lies nearest, and for now, that's Georgia Tech. We're excited to turn our attention to competing as a team again."
Assistant Sports Communications Director John Frierson is the staff writer for the UGA Athletic Association and curator of the ITA Men's Tennis Hall of Fame.
