Georgia women’s tennis team
(Photo by Steven Colquitt / Georgia Sports Communications)
The No. 18 Georgia women’s tennis team were not able to emerge with a win against No. 14 Vanderbilt at home on Sunday, falling to the Commodores 4-2. The Bulldogs split this weekend’s matches with SEC opponents, having taken down the Kentucky Wildcats on Friday 4-1.
“I liked our doubles,” Georgia head coach Jeff Wallace said. “Doubles was super exciting and we haven’t been winning very many doubles points so getting the doubles point was nice. But I felt like we needed to start better on several of the courts in singles. All the momentum from the doubles point was taken away early in the sets and we had to fight back. I think Kennedy (Shaffer) and Caroline (Brinson) played great. We tried to fight back but credit Vanderbilt for outplaying us.”
In doubles, Caroline Brinson and Ellen Perez won on court one while Marta Gonzalez and Mariana Gould clinched it on the last court in a tiebreaker. After trailing 1-4, Perez and Brinson stormed back to defeat No. 32 ranked duo of Sharma and Emily Smith, 6-4. The next two courts went down to the wire. Elena Christofi and Kennedy Shaffer were behind 5-6 on court two when Gonzalez and Gould outlasted VU’s Fernanda Contreras and Christina Rosca 7-6 (7-3).
Vanderbilt took four of the six first sets in singles to put Georgia in an early hole. The Commodores’ top-ranked players Sharma (#5) and Sydney Campbell (#16) defeated #62 Perez and #15 Christofi, respectfully, on the first two courts to take a 2-1 lead. Next, Gould fell to Contreras on court six to give Vanderbilt a commanding 3-1 advantage.
At No. 3, Shaffer, a junior from Rossford, Ohio, dispatched VU’s Georgina Sellyn 6-3, 6-4 to cut the Bulldogs deficit to 3-2. However, soon after Emma Kurtz’s spike against Gonzalez sealed the Vanderbilt victory. Shaffer, ranked 44th in ITA singles, improves to 15-5 on the season, 6-1 in duals.
The Bulldogs hit the road next Friday with a 7 p.m. match against the Alabama Crimson Tide in Tuscaloosa, AL.
CLICK HERE for the tennis match results from Sunday’s game between Georgia and Vanderbilt.