The Georgia women’s tennis team (18-3, 11-2) bounced back to its winning ways with a 4-1 defeat of No. 11 South Carolina (17-6, 9-4) Sunday afternoon at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex to clinch the No. 3 seed at the 2016 Southeastern Conference tournament.
Sunday’s match served as Senior Day to honor Georgia’s lone senior, Silvia Garcia. The Madrid, Spain native was unable to finish her matches in both singles and doubles.
“It was a good day,” head coach Jeff Wallace said. “I thought that our doubles came out and really played well. It was one of our best doubles points of the year and got us going. I thought that we did really well on courts one, four and two to clinch the match in singles. I thought Silvia played great and this is her senior day. We are excited that we were able to get a win for her as a team.”
The Bulldogs got things rolling early with a dominant performance on court one in doubles from Ellen Perez and Mariana Gould. The 20th-ranked duo downed 25th-ranked Hadley Berg and Paige Cline, 6-2. Caroline Brinson and Laura Patterson followed suit with a 6-2 victory of their own on the third court to clinch the doubles point for the Bulldogs.
Georgia picked up right where it left off winning first sets on courts one, two, three and four. Caroline Brinson gave UGA a 2-0 lead on court four with a 6-3, 6-2 decision against Hadley Berg. Shortly after Brinson finished, Ellen Perez took court one with a 7-5, 6-3 victory against No. 83 Caroline Dailey.
Mariana Gould dropped court five 6-4, 6-2, but teammate Kennedy Shaffer grabbed the momentum back in Georgia’s favor with a 6-4, 6-3 victory against No. 75 Ingrid Gamarra Martins to clinch the match.
The Bulldogs are back in action on April 20-24 with the SEC Tournament in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
For all the latest on Georgia women’s tennis, follow the team on Twitter (@UGAWomensTennis), Instagram (@ugawomenstennis) and on Facebook (Georgia Women’s Tennis), and keep checking in to georgiadogs.com.
TENNIS MATCH RESULTS
South Carolina vs Georgia
Apr 17, 2016 at Athens, Ga.
(Dan Magill Tennis Complex)
Henry Feild Stadium
Official: Karen Mabry T-2:08 A-411
#3 Georgia defeats #11 South Carolina (4-1)
Order of finish: Doubles (1,3); Singles (4,1,5,2)
Singles competition
1. #4 Ellen Perez (UGA) def. #83 Caroline Dailey (SC) 7-5, 6-3
2. #46 Kennedy Shaffer (UGA) def. #75 IngridGamarraMartins (SC) 6-4, 6-3
3. #86 Silvia Garcia (UGA) vs. #84 Paige Cline (SC) 6-4, 2-6, 2-2, unfinished
4. #29 Caroline Brinson (UGA) def. Hadley Berg (SC) 6-3, 6-2
5. Brigit Folland (SC) def. Mariana Gould (UGA) 6-4, 6-2
6. Laura Patterson (UGA) vs. Ximena Siles Luna (SC) 0-6, 6-5, unfinished
Doubles competition
1. #20 Ellen Perez/Mariana Gould (UGA) def. #25 Hadley Berg/Paige Cline (SC) 6-2
2. #67 Silvia Garcia/Kennedy Shaffer (UGA) vs. Caroline Dailey/Brigit Folland (SC) 4-2, unfinished
3. Caroline Brinson/Laura Patterson (UGA) def. Rachel Rohrabacher/IngridGamarraMartins (SC) 6-2