[break] The No. 5 Georgia women’s tennis team (0-1) came out on the wrong side of a hard-fought, 4-3 match on Sunday afternoon as the No. 15 Baylor Bears (1-0) handed the Bulldogs a season-opening loss at the Hawkins Indoor Tennis Center.

 

The Bulldogs claimed an early advantage courtesy of junior Silvia Garcia and freshman Kennedy Shaffer’s 7-5, point-clinching victory in doubles play, but were unable to sustain the momentum through the duration of the singles matches.

 

Georgia freshman No. 91 Hannah King won her singles match in straight sets (6-1, 7-5) over Baylor’s No. 73 Kelley Anderson on court five, and sophomore Caroline Brinson fought off four match points to claim a dramatic third set tiebreaker victory (5-7, 6-2, 7-6 (7-5)) over No. 101 Rachael James-Baker on court six, but the Bulldogs suffered losses on courts one, two, three, and four to fall to the Bears in a battle of top-15 ranked teams.

 

“The environment was phenomenal and the crowd was really into it,” said head coach Jeff Wallace. “We’re definitely looking forward to coming back here for the NCAA Championships in May. Overall I felt like we had opportunities but Baylor really stepped it up and played a great match. We’ve learned a lot for what we need to do moving forward and are looking forward to coming back to Athens and playing on our home courts next weekend.”

 

Sunday’s match marked the first time the two teams had met in a dual match since 2009, when Georgia won 4-3 in Athens. The all-time series now stands at 8-3 in Georgia’s favor.

 

The Bulldogs’ next match will see them return to Athens to face Samford in the first round of the ITA Kick-Off Weekend at 1 p.m. on Saturday.

 

Singles Results

1. #72 Ema Burgic (BU) def. #19 Lauren Herring (UGA) 6-2, 6-3
2. Kiah Generette (BU) def. Ellen Perez (UGA) 6-1, 6-2
3. #49 Blair Shankle (BU) def. #83 Silvia Garcia (UGA) 4-6, 6-2, 6-1
4. Leolia JeanJean (BU) def. Kennedy Shaffer (UGA) 7-6 (8-6), 6-7 (5-7), 7-5
5. #91 Hannah King (UGA) def. #73 Kelley Anderson (BU) 6-1, 7-5
6. Caroline Brinson (UGA) def. #101 Rachael James-Baker (BU) 5-7, 6-2, 7-6 (7-5)

 

Doubles Results

 

1. Ema Burgic/Blair Shankle (BU) def. Lauren Herring/Ellen Perez (UGA) 6-1
2. Silvia Garcia/Kennedy Shaffer (UGA) def. Rachael James-Baker/Kiah Generette (BU) 7-5
3. Caroline Brinson/Hannah King (UGA) def. Kelley Anderson/Leolia JeanJean (BU) 6-2