Women
The No. 3 Georgia women’s tennis team defeated its seventh top-25 opponent of the season besting No. 16 Vanderbilt 4-2 to improve to 12-1 overall and 8-0 in conference action.
Georgia finished their road match competition undefeated, 5-0, for the eighth time in program history. The last time the Bulldogs pulled off this feat was the 2019 season.
The match was clinched by No. 1 Katarina Jokic who went the distance in three sets defeating No. 54 Christina Rosca 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 on court one.
The Bulldogs dropped their first doubles point of the season with the duo of junior Morgan Coppoc and graduate Elena Christofi falling 6-4 to No. 56 Marcella Cruz and Emma Kurtz on court two and junior Meg Kowalski and sophomore Lea Ma losing 6-4 to Rosca and Anessa Lee on court three. This was the first dual match loss for the duo of Coppoc and Chrisotif and only the second for Kowalski and Ma. The No. 4 ranked pairing of senior Jokic and freshman Ariana Arseneault went unfinished on court one tied 5-5.
Coming down to singles action, No. 13 Kowalski picked up her 22nd-straight singles win defeating Anna Ross 7-5, 6-1 on court three and Christofi right behind her defeating Dasha Kourkina 6-1, 6-4 on court six. Ma fell to Kurts 7-6 (6), 6-4 on court two leaving the rest of the match in the hands of No. 73 Coppoc, No. 104 Gonzalez and No. 1 Jokic. Coppoc fell in her first set but came back to take the next two defeating Lee 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 on court four earning her, her eighth-straight win of the Bulldogs’ last 10 matches leading to the clinch for No. 1 Jokic. No. 104 Gonzalez went unfinished on court five tied 6-7(), 7-6().
Georgia will conclude the regular season with four final home matches beginning with Missouri on April 2 with first serve set for 3 p.m.
Men
The University of Georgia men’s tennis team won its fifth match in the last six outings with a 4-1 victory against Vanderbilt Sunday afternoon at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex.
Going against his former team, Bulldog graduate Billy Rowe delivered the match-clincher for the second time this weekend. The Coronado, Calif., native capped off a successful day with his 7-5, 6-2 triumph at court five.
The No. 13-ranked Bulldogs — who faced a three-hour rain delay before Sunday’s match — have won four-straight SEC contests and are now 11-5 overall and 5-4 in league play.
“I am really proud of the guys,” head coach Manuel Diaz said. “They played tremendous doubles, and we really got a lot of momentum early on in the match. We had to warm up indoors and come back outside We then went through a short warm-up, and it starts raining, forcing us to have another half-hour delay. Our guys handled it well and did a tremendous job at No. 1 and No. 3 to get the doubles point. I felt good about doubles. As usual in the SEC, everyone gives you a run for your money. They played tremendously challenging tennis in singles, but I am happy with how we responded today.”
In doubles, the Bulldogs’ No. 3 duo of Erik Grevelius and Philip Henning set the tone early with a convincing win. The tandem improved to 2-0 on the weekend with a 6-1 win against Jeremie Casabon and Connor Robb-Wilcox.
Georgia’s No. 1 combo of Trent Bryde and Tyler Zink quickly followed with their fourth consecutive win of the year. The nation’s No. 7-ranked team earned a break to go up 5-3 and held on for the 6-3 victory against Vanderbilt’s George Harwell and Max Freeman.
With the doubles point in hand, Georgia quickly went to work in singles.
Henning delivered a win in straight sets against Jeremie Casabon, before Blake Croyder’s 2-6, 6-2, 6-3 victory against Macsen Sisam.
Up, 3-0, Bryde lost at the top court, but Rowe swiftly answered with another match-clinching win — this time in 7-5, 6-2 fashion against Max Freeman.