COLUMBIA, Mo. – After pulling off the upset win over Georgia a few weeks ago, the Commodores couldn’t pull off the same magic in the semifinals of the 2014 SEC Women’s Tennis Tournament, falling 4-1 to the sixth-ranked Bulldogs.
The 11th-ranked Vanderbilt women’s tennis team was denied its 20th win of the season, and fell to 19-6 with the loss. Georgia improved to 19-4.
“I have to give Georgia a lot of credit,” said Vanderbilt head coach Geoff Macdonald. “They played really well on the big points today and I think that made a big difference. We put out so much energy yesterday in our win over Kentucky it was tough to come back in this one today.”
The doubles point started off looking like it would come down to the wire, with the deciding point coming at No. 1. Vanderbilt started it off locking up the first doubles match with an 8-2 win at No. 3 from Marie Casares and Frances Altick.
Shortly after Vandy picked up its first match, the Bulldogs earned a quick 8-1 win at No. 2 over Ashleigh Antal and Sydney Campbell.
Vandy’s No. 1 team of 30th-ranked Lauren Mira and Courtney Colton had a tall task ahead of them in 2nd-ranked Lauren Herring and Maho Kowase, but the VU duo was on serve when the point was knotted at 1-all.
With the match at 3-all, Georgia earned the first break to go up 4-3 and then never looked back to win it 8-3 and clinch the doubles point for the Bulldogs.
Vanderbilt dropped five of six singles matches to open the second half of the match, and it proved to be too much.
After playing to close first sets at No. 2 and 3 singles, both Altick at two and Casares at three were overpowered in their second sets, giving Georgia the 3-0 lead.
Antal, who picked up the only first set win for the Commodores dropped her second before coming back for a tough 6-4 win in the third set over Kate Fuller to put the Commodores on the board.
With the match at 3-1 in favor of the Bulldogs both Mira and Colton were working in third sets, after earning splits in the second set. Meanwhile, freshman Sydney Campbell was on serve at one in the second set with No. 7 Herring.
The Dores needed wins on all three courts to secure a birth into Sunday’s championship match, but it was Colton who fell 6-1 at No. 4, as Georgia clinched it 4-1.
Vanderbilt will now await the announcement of the NCAA regional sites on April 29th.
“I’m so proud of the way the team has fought in every match this season,” said Macdonald. “We’re really excited for NCAA’s but I think the rest over the next few weeks will be very beneficial.”
#6 Georgia 4, #11 Vanderbilt 1
Singles competition
1. #71 Sydney Campbell (VU) vs. #7 Lauren Herring (UGA) 6-7 (4-7), 5-5, unfinished
2. #17 Silvia Garcia (UGA) def. #54 Frances Altick (VU) 6-4, 6-0
3. #18 Maho Kowase (UGA) def. #98 Marie Casares (VU) 7-5, 6-2
4. #83 Lilly Kimbell (UGA) def. #80 Courtney Colton (VU) 6-3, 4-6, 6-1
5. Ashleigh Antal (VU) def. Kate Fuller (UGA) 6-3, 2-6, 6-4
6. Lauren Mira (VU) vs. Mia King (UGA) 4-6, 6-4, 2-2, unfinished
Doubles competition
1. #2 Lauren Herring/Maho Kowase (UGA) def. #30 Lauren Mira/Courtney Colton (VU) 8-3
2. #27 Silvia Garcia/Kate Fuller (UGA) def. #32 Ashleigh Antal/Sydney Campbell (VU) 8-1
3. #85 Marie Casares/Frances Altick (VU) def. #90 Caroline Brinson/Lilly Kimbell (UGA) 8-2
Match Notes:
Georgia 19-4; National ranking #6
Vanderbilt 19-6; National ranking #11
Order of finish: Doubles (3,2,1); Singles (2,3,5,4)
