The Georgia Bulldogs couldn’t recover this time from a deficit, falling 4-0 to Stanford in the 2019 NCAA DI Women’s Tennis Championship Sunday evening at the USTA National Campus.
The Bulldogs dropped the doubles point for just the seventh time this season, and then only grabbed two first sets to singles. Georgia was unable to thwart off The Cardinal in three of those first sets.
The loss ended Georgia’s season with a final record of 28-2, which included a stretch of 23-straight wins – both program records. The Bulldogs captured the 2019 ITA National Team Indoor Championship in February for the program’s sixth national team title, and then finished the Southeastern Conference undefeated, winning Georgia’s 10th regular season title.
“Stanford played a great match, so you have to tip your hat to them,” Georgia head coach Jeff Wallace said. “There were moments in several of our matches where it seemed like we were surging ahead and having an opportunity, but then we just didn’t quite sustain that. I’m super proud of our team though. It has been a special year. We wanted this last one really bad, and unfortunately didn’t get it.”
The score wasn’t necessarily indicative of the competitiveness as doubles came down to one court at 5-all, and a dropped first-set tiebreaker denied the Bulldogs of a split of first sets.
In doubles, Georgia’s No. 28-ranked duo of Katarina Jokic and Lourdes Carle won 6-1. The win marked their sixth ranked win in nine matches, propelling them to All-Tournament Team for the first doubles court. After Stanford got court three, it turned to court two where it was 5-all, but The Cardinal closed it out for the lead.
In singles, sophomores Jokic and sophomore Vivian Wolff took first sets, while freshman Meg Kowalski nearly obtained Georgia’s third, but fell in a tiebreaker. Although there was some times that momentum had a chance to swing, Stanford kept control. Jokic, Wolff and Kowalski each were named All-Tournament Team on their respective courts.
First, No. 66-ranked Caroline Lampl defeated Carle on court three, 6-2, 6-4. Junior Marta Gonzalez, ranked No. 19, fought back from 1-4 to 4-5, but lost 6-2, 6-4 to No. 29 Melissa Lord on court two. Lastly, The Cardinal secured their second-straight NCAA title with a win on court five. No. 108 Janice Shin outlasted junior Elena Christofi 6-2, 6-4. At the time of conclusion, Jokic was ahead 3-2 in the second set, Wolff was knotted at 3-all, and Kowalski was up in the second set.