Texas A&M
Georgia
No. 2 Georgia Holds Off Texas A&M, 5-2
Mar 01, 2015 | Women's Tennis
“Beating Georgia indoors at Georgia was always going to be a tough assignment, but the fact that the match was as exciting as it was hints at the progress of our team over the past month,” A&M head coach Howard Joffe said. “Without question, the loss is disappointing individually and collectively, but all things considered, the ladies performed quite well.”
The match, which lasted five hours, 49 minutes at the four-court indoor facility, got off to a thrilling start as the doubles point came down to a nail-biting, marathon tiebreaker in the last match standing.
Midway through the doubles competition, Georgia's 25th-ranked duo of Lauren Herring and Silvia Perez had overcome a 4-0 deficit against A&M's 35th-ranked Eva Paalma and Rachel Pierson to tie the match at 5-5 at No. 1. It was the Aggies who were staging a comeback on Court 2, as A&M's Ines Deheza and Stefania Hristov battled back from a 4-1 deficit against 16th-ranked Silvia Garcia and Kennedy Shaffer to also tie the score at 5-5. Meanwhile, A&M's Rutuja Bhosale and Saska Gavrilovska held a 6-4 lead against 55th-ranked Caroline Brinson and Hannah King at No. 3.
Georgia went on to win the next three games at the No. 1 line to take an 8-5 victory, and A&M used a three-game rally to close out an 8-4 victory at No. 3. All eyes would then go to the No. 2 line, where the Bulldogs had taken a 7-5 lead.
Deheza and Hristov, both juniors who were competing together for only the second time in their careers, came back to tie the score at 7-7 and force a tiebreaker against Garcia and Shaffer, who entered the match 7-2 at the No. 2. After a lengthy battle, the Aggie duo eventually pulled away for a 13-11 victory to give A&M a 1-0 lead.
“That was definitely one of the most exciting doubles points that I have witnessed,” Joffe said. “I certainly don't put a ton of stock in the rankings because Georgia's No. 1 team, if they are not the best team in the country, they are certainly pretty darn close even though their ranking doesn't suggest that at this moment. Behind outstanding playing, they were able to even that out and edge ahead.
“Saska and Rutuja, I wouldn't say it was their best tennis, but it was a pretty professional performance and they won, 8-4. It came down to Ines and Stefania. They were 7-5 down and were able to tie it. They certainly saved four or more match points and probably had two or three match points of their own. The quality of the tennis was quite high. Naturally in retrospect it would have been nice if that had decided the match, but it didn't.”
Deheza improved to 4-0 at the No. 4 line this season and gave the Aggies a 2-0 lead at the start of singles, handedly defeating All-American and 97th-ranked Garcia, 6-2, 6-1. It marked Deheza's first ranked win in 2014-15, and it is the fourth highest ranked win of her singles career.
“Definitely the dual match was in the balance for about a 20 to 30-minute period, but the highlight of the day was definitely Ines beating Garcia quite resoundingly,” Joffe added.
Georgia, which fielded nationally ranked singles players at every line, then got wins at Nos. 1 and 2 singles to tie the score. Sixth-ranked Herring pulled out a 6-4 first-set win against 54th Gavrilovska at No. 1 and then completed the straight-set victory with a 6-1 win in the second set.
Perez, ranked No. 74, posted a 6-2 first-set win against No. 40 Pierson at the No. 2 line, but the second set came down to a tiebreaker, with Perez pulling away, 7-4.
The Bulldogs took the lead, 3-2, as 66th-ranked Hannah King defeated No. 113 Hristov, 6-3, 6-1 at No. 5.
In the only full three-set match, 59th-ranked Bhosale overcame a 5-3 first-set deficit to force a tiebreaker against No. 69 Shaffer at the No. 3 line. Bhosale eked out a 9-7 win in the tiebreaker but was unable to sustain the momentum as Shaffer won the next two sets, 6-3, 6-1, to win the match and clinch the victory for the Bulldogs.
Paalma, A&M's lone freshman, came from behind to win her first set, 7-5, against No. 111 Brinson at No. 6. Brinson won the second set, 6-4, and the two played a 10-point super tiebreaker to determine the overall winner. Brinson pulled away, 10-7, to close out the Bulldogs' 5-2 victory.
“To put it all into perspective, Georgia is the No. 2 team in the country, and they have probably played eight or nine top-10 teams already this year,” Joffe said. “We have played two matches in the last 30 days, so in some of the pivotal matches, Georgia's match toughness showed. I was still thrilled with how we did, but again the object of the exercise for our team is to win these tough matches. We will get there, but not today.”
With the loss, A&M drops to 3-3 overall and 1-1 in SEC play. Georgia moves to 9-3, 2-0, and also improved to 10-0 in the all-time series against the Aggies.
The Aggies begin their SEC home slate as they play host to No. 42 South Carolina and No. 3 Florida, Friday and Sunday, respectively, at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center. First serve against the Gamecocks is at 5 p.m., and the start time against the SEC preseason-favored Gators is 11 a.m.
“We are certainly a team in need of ranked wins, so with South Carolina and Florida coming to town, it gives us more opportunity with definitely meaningful and exciting matches ahead,” Joffe said.
Visit 12thMan.com for more information on Texas A&M women's tennis. Aggie fans also can keep up to date with the A&M women's tennis team on Twitter by following @AggieWTEN or on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/?ref=tn_tnmn#!/pages/Aggie-Womens-Tennis/143874782434654
#2 Georgia 5, Texas A&M 2
Lindsey Hopkins Indoor Courts at Dan Magill Tennis Complex
Athens, Ga.
Singles
1. #6 Lauren Herring (UGA) def. #54 Saska Gavrilovska (TAMU), 6-4, 6-1
2. #74 Ellen Perez (UGA) def. #40 Rachel Pierson (TAMU), 6-2, 7-6
3. 369 Kennedy Shaffer (UGA) def. #59 Rutuja Bhosale (TAMU), 6-7, 6-3, 6-1
4. #117 Ines Deheza (TAMU) def. #97 Silvia Garcia (UGA), 6-2, 6-1
5. #66 Hannah King (UGA) def. #113 Stefania Hristov (TAMU), 6-3, 6-1
6. #111 Caroline Brinson (UGA) def. Eva Paalma (TAMU), 5-7, 6-4, 1-0 (7)
Doubles (A&M wins the point)
1. #25 Herring/Perez (UGA) def. #35 Paalma/Pierson (TAMU), 8-5
2. Deheza/Hristov (TAMU) def. #16 Garcia/Shaffer, 8-7 (11)
3. Gavrilovska/Bhosale (TAMU) def. #55 Brinson/H. King (UGA), 8-4
Order of finish
Doubles: 1, 3, 2
Singles: 4, 1, 2, 5, 3*, 6
*-clinched the match
Team records
Texas A&M: 3-3, 1-1 SEC
Georgia: 9-3, 2-0 SEC
Players Mentioned
