SEC Championship - Day Three Results
SEC Women’s Tennis Championship
Fayetteville, Ark.
Day Four Championship Match – Sunday, April 26
Georgia vs. Tennessee at noon
Free Admission
Day Three Results – April 25
No. 3 Georgia 4, No. 15 Florida 2
Chelsey Gullickson claimed a win at No. 1 singles to send No. 3 Georgia to a 4-2 victory over No. 15 Florida in the semifinals of the SEC Women’s Tennis Championship at Arkansas on Saturday.
Gullickson, ranked No. 12 in the nation and named conference Freshman of the Year earlier this week, topped No. 7 Marrit Boonstra, 6-2, 5-7, 6-0, to send the Bulldogs into Sunday’s noon final against the winner of the Tennessee-Ole Miss matchup.
Florida took an early 1-0 lead with No. 43 Boonstra and Jo Mather upsetting 12th-ranked Gullickson and Nadja Gilchrist at No. 1 doubles, 8-3, and No. 29 Jessica Alexander and Anastasia Revzina topping Yvette Hyndman and Monika Dancevic at No. 2, 8-3.
Georgia, the No. 1 seed in the tournament and now 22-2, tied the match at 1-1 when Cameron Ellis claimed a 6-1, 6-0 win at No. 6. Revzina, ranked No. 47, put Florida back on top with a 6-1, 6-1 decision over No. 49 Hyndman at No. 2. Georgia got the next three victories with No. 55 Gilchrist beating Mather at No. 3, Naoko Ueshima topping Barbara Pinterova at No. 5 and Gullickson winning at No. 1.
Florida, which advanced to the semifinals with Friday’s 4-2 win over Vanderbilt, is 14-9.
No. 3 Georgia 4, No. 15 Florida 2
Doubles
No. 1 – Marrit Boonstra/Jo Mather (Fla) def. Chelsey Gullickson/Nadja Gilchrist, 8-3
No. 2 – Jessica Alexander/Anastasia Revzina (Fla) def. Yvette Hyndman/Monika Dancevic, 8-3
No. 3 – Naoko Ueshima/Cameron Ellis (UG) def. Brooke Allen/Barbara Pinterova, 8-0
Order: 3,2,1*
Singles
No. 1 – Chelsey Gullickson (UG) def. Anastasia Revzina, 6-2, 5-7, 6-0
No. 2 – Anastasia Revzina (Fla) def. Yvette Hyndman, 6-1, 6-1
No. 3 – Nadja Gilchrist (UG) def. Jo Mather, 6-0, 6-4
No. 4 – Monika Dancevic (UG) vs Jessica Alexander, dnf
No. 5 – Naoko Ueshima (UG) def. Barbara Pinterova, 6-0, 6-1
No. 6 – Cameron Ellis (UG) def. Brooke Allen, 6-1, 6-0
Order: 6,2,3,5,1*
QUOTES
Georgia Head Coach Jeff Wallace:
“Florida played great in doubles. They whipped us, but I was impressed with how our team came back in singles. We lost the doubles point down there this year and since then we’ve been able to win the doubles point in every match until today. I told them you’re not always going to win the doubles point and you’ll have to come back strong in singles like we did. We’ve got pretty good depth. We got wins at No. 5 and No. 6, and two from our freshman in Nadja (Gilchrist) and Chelsey (Gullickson) at the top with the match on the line.”
Florida Head Coach Roland Thornqvist:
“I thought we played well. Georgia was tough. We played very well in doubles and had to dig deep. We ran out of juice in the end. I thought Chelsey (Gullickson) played a great third set. You have to tip your hat to Georgia. They played well.”
No. 10 Tennessee 4, No. 26 Ole Miss 1
No. 10 Tennessee advanced to the finals of the SEC Women’s Tennis Championship with a 4-1 victory over No. 26 Ole Miss at Arkansas on Saturday.
Maria Sorbello clinched the match with a 6-1, 5-7, 6-4 decision over Mimi Renaudin at No. 6.
After winning the doubles point, with victories at No. 2 by Rosalia Alda and Zsofia Zubor, and Maria Sorbello and Jennifer Meredith at No. 3, Tennessee got two straight singles wins for a 3-0 lead.
No. 45 Caitlin Whoriskey upset No. 33 Kristi Box at No. 1, 6-1, 6-2, and Samantha Orlin knocked off Laura van de Stroet at No. 3, 6-3, 6-3.
Ole Miss got on the board with No. 69 Karen Nijssen’s 7-5, 7-5 win over No. 117 Natalie Pluskota at No. 2. The singles matches at both No. 4 and No. 5 were in the third set when Tennessee clinched.
Tennessee, the No. 3 seed, beat South Carolina, 4-2, on Friday. UT, which improved to 17-5, advances to Sunday’s noon final against Georgia, which beat Florida, 4-2, earlier in the day.
Georgia and Tennessee ended the regular season last Saturday with Georgia winning 5-2 in Knoxville.
Ole Miss, the No. 7 seed which advanced with a 4-1 victory over LSU on Thursday and a 4-3 win over host Arkansas on Friday, is now 14-9.
No. 10 Tennessee 4, No. 26 Ole Miss 1
Doubles
No. 1 – Caitlin Whoriskey/Natalie Pluskota (Tenn) vs. Kristi Boxx/Karen Nijssen, dnf
No. 2 – Rosalia Alda/Zsofia Zubor (Tenn) def. Abigail Guthrie/Gabriela Rangela, 8-2
No. 3 – Maria Sorbello/Jennifer Meredith (Tenn) def. Laura van de Stroet/Mimi Renaudin, 8-5
Order: 2,3*
Singles
No. 1 – Caitlin Whoriskey (Tenn) def. Kristi Box, 6-1, 6-2
No. 2 – Karen Nijssen (Miss) def. Natalie Pluskota, 7-5, 7-5
No. 3 – Samantha Orlin (Tenn) def. Laura van de Stroet, 6-3, 6-3
No. 4 – Jennifer Meredith (Tenn) vs. Abigail Guthrie, dnf
No. 5 – Rosalia Alda (Tenn) vs. Gabriela Rangel, dnf
No. 6 – Maria Sorbello (Tenn) def. Mimi Renaudin, 6-1, 5-7, 6-4
Order: 1,3,2,6*
QUOTES
Tennessee Head Coach Mike Patrick:
“This is a very exciting win for our team. Ole Miss has played great this tournament and we were very fortunate to escape with the win. We are looking forward to the opportunity to play another great team in Georgia again tomorrow. We’ve played a little tight in these first two matches, so we just need to go out there, relax and play our game. These opportunities don’t come along all that often, so we will try to take full advantage of it and enjoy every minute of it.
“Pressure is an amazing thing. Maria (Sorbello) kind of let her match slip away from her a little bit and lost a little confidence, but she was able to make a few plays late in the third set and finish it off. I’m proud of the way she was able to get back on track and pick up a huge win for our team."
Ole Miss Head Coach Mark Beyers:
“First off, congratulations to Tennessee for fighting out there. Most of the matches came down to 6-4 and that seems to have been the case in the SEC all year. You win some and you lose some. I thought my players did a great job. We came from behind and made it a match. We were able to bounce back. Hat’s off to my players. They did well in a great SEC battle.”
