Univ. of Georgia Team Page
PORTLAND, ORE.—All four Georgia singles players collected wins Saturday at the USTA Collegiate Invitational.
In group A, Georgia freshman Makenzie Craft posted a 6-2,6-3 win over Claire Liu (USTA). In group B, Bulldog junior Maho Kowase, ranked 37th, dispatched Amy Zhu (Michigan) 6-1,6-1. In group D, Georgia junior Kate Fuller, ranked 62nd, defeated Skylar Morton 6-1,7-5. In group F, Bulldog sophomore Lauren Herring, ranked 53rd, beat Caroline Doyle (USTA) 6-2,6-4 to cap a perfect afternoon of singles.
“We had a fantastic day in singles, collecting four more wins and we’re looking forward to hopefully having another big day on Sunday,” said Georgia coach Jeff Wallace. “We had some chances in the doubles, but the teams we went up against today just played a little better.”
Georgia’s two doubles teams fell short in the semifinals. Saturday’s action began with a couple of tightly contested doubles matches. The top-seeded duo of Fuller and Herring were edged by Morton/Kyle McPhillips (UCLA) 9-8(4). It snapped a 10-match winning streak by the Bulldog duo. In the other semifinal, Michigan’s fifth-ranked team of Brooke Bolender and Emina Bektas held off Kowase and Craft 8-6. In the final, the UCLA pair posted a 9-7 win over theMichigan duo.
“I was really encouraged the way Maho and Makenzie played against a top five ranked team,” Wallace added. “They went toe-to-toe with them and had some opportunities. In Kate and Lauren’s match, they fought hard too and played solid tennis and just got beat in a tiebreaker. It was unfortunate that we didn’t get one of the teams in the finals, but you have to credit the other teams for playing great tennis to pull it out.”
Sunday’s action will feature one singles contest in each group, and the players with the best record on the weekend in each group will advanced to a shoot-out round. The winner of the shoot-out will earn a wild card in to a USTA Pro Circuit event in 2013.
