The No. 4 Georgia women’s tennis team notched a 4-0 victory over No. 54 Tennessee on Saturday afternoon at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex.
The Bulldogs improved to 12-1 on the season with a 5-0 mark in the conference. The Volunteers dropped to 7-8 overall and 1-4 in the SEC.
“I thought we played a lot better in doubles today than we did in our last match,” head coach Jeff Wallace said. “That’s something that we spent a lot of time in practice yesterday working on. I thought we did a good job of coming out an executing on things we’ve talked about in the last 24 hours.”
“I felt like singles were great,” Wallace continued. “We had a lot of close matches and a lot of fight going on out there between both teams. (Ellen Perez) was able to come back (from down 4-2 in the third set) and get that last point for us so that was exciting. It was a great match, a fun day to play out here and I thought our players did well.”
Georgia came out strong to take the doubles point after two back-to-back wins on courts two and three.Kennedy Shaffer and Laura Patterson finished first defeating their opponent 6-4. They were followed by the No. 71 duo of Silvia Garcia and Caroline Brinson who grabbed a 6-3 win on the second court.
In singles, Patterson started Georgia off taking a 6-2, 6-3 decision over Tennessee’s Tiffany Tavares to give the Bulldogs a 2-0 lead in the match. No. 78 Shaffer followed closely with a 6-3, 6-3 defeat of Eve Repic. Georgia now led the match 3-0.
It was No. 22 Ellen Perez who served as the match clincher to defeat No. 102 Sadie Hammond 3-6, 6-1, 6-4. Perez dropped set one, took set two and came from behind 4-2 in set three to get the win.
“It felt really good,” Perez said. “It’s nice to get the win in the end and know that no matter what I can fight to the end and get the job done.”
Georgia will return to the match court on Thursday to face Kentucky in Lexington at the Boone Tennis Center at 2 p.m.
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.
MATCH RESULTS:
#4 Georgia defeats #54 Tennessee (4-0)
Order of finish: Doubles (3,2); Singles (5,2,1)
Singles competition
1. #10 Ellen Perez (UGA) def. #102 Sadie Hammond (UT) 3-6, 6-1, 6-4
2. #78 Kennedy Shaffer (UGA) def. Eve Repic (UT) 6-3, 6-3
3. #22 Caroline Brinson (UGA) vs. Kim Kermet (UT) 6-0, 4-6, 1-2, unfinished
4. #75 Silvia Garcia (UGA) vs. Brittany Lindl (UT) 7-6 (6-2), 6-5, unfinished
5. Laura Patterson (UGA) def. Tiffany Tavares (UT) 6-2, 6-3
6. Hannah King (UGA) vs. Ashlee Boles (UT) 6-7 (2-6), 4-3, unfinished
Doubles competition
1. #28 Ellen Perez/Mariana Gould (UGA) vs. Sadie Hammond/Eve Repic (UT) 5-6, unfinished
2. #71 Silvia Garcia/Caroline Brinson (UGA) def. Kim Kermet/Brittany Lindl (UT) 6-3
3. Kennedy Shaffer/Laura Patterson (UGA) def. Tiffany Tavares/Ashley Bongart (UT) 6-4