Bob Larson's Tennis News | WTN: 2009 NCAA Division I Women's Tennis Championship Quarterfinals Match Results: #2 Georgia 4, South Carolina 3

NCAA Division I Tennis Championships
Women’s Quarterfinals
May 17, 2009
George P. Mitchell Tennis Center
College Station, Texas

#2 Georgia 4, South Carolina 3

RECORDS: Georgia 27-2; South Carolina 17-11

SINGLES
1. #9 Chelsey Gullickson (UGA) def. #43 Gira Schofield (USC), 6-4, 6-3
2. #48 Ana Marija Zubori (USC) def. #55 Yvette Hyndman (UGA), 6-3, 6-3
3. #56 Nadja Gilchrist (UGA) def. Dijana Stojic (USC), 6-4, 4-6, 7-5
4. Natasa Vuckovic (USC) def. #93 Monika Dancevic (UGA), 7-6 (3), 6-3
5. Naoko Ueshima (UGA) def. Miljana Jocic (USC), 6-3, 6-3
6. Cameron Ellis (UGA) def. Suzanna Mansour (USC), 2-6, 6-3, 6-1

DOUBLES
1. #6 Gullickson/Gilchrist (UGA) def. #27 Zubori/Vuckovic (USC), 8-4
2. Jocic/Schofield (USC) def. Dancevic/Hyndman (UGA), 9-7
3. Mansour/Stojic (USC) def. Ellis/Ueshima (UGA), 9-8 (3)

ORDER OF FINISH:
Doubles: 1, 2, 3
Singles: 2, 1, 4, 6, 5, 3

POSTMATCH NOTES
Georgia reaches the NCAA semifinals for the first time since 2002. The Bulldogs will take on third-seeded Duke on Monday, May 18 at 4 p.m. (CT).

POSTMATCH QUOTES
Georgia Head Coach Jeff Wallace
“First, you have to say that South Carolina was kind of the Cinderella team here, and played absolutely unbelievable and we just barely escaped them. I take my hat off to them, the year that they had, and the run they made here at the NCAA Tournament. Our players came out and we played good enough doubles to win that point. We got to the point where we had match point, but didn’t get it done. Then all of a sudden, we opened a door for them, they went through it and got that doubles point. It gave them a lot of energy and we knew every singles player was going to have to come out and perform on their games today. It was tough and came down to the last match with Nadja (Gilchrist). You really have to be inspired by a player who is cramping and hurting that bad and is still competing, fighting and trying to find a way to win. In the end, it really forced her to play the style of tennis that she needed to be playing in order to actually win, and that’s more aggressive, because you’re not going to be able to run down all these balls and points. Their team played great, our team played great and it was just an epic NCAA quarterfinal match.”

South Carolina Head Coach Arlo Elkins
“It was a real tough battle. I looked at the draw last night and there were a lot of teams that had 28-1, 27-4 or 26-3 records. Then you look at ours and see 17-10. People thought we didn’t belong here, but I think from this match that we showed we did belong. We played the toughest schedule in the country which is one of the reasons we had the record we did. Out of the 21 matches we had, 19 of the opponents made the NCAA Tournament. I think that is one of the reasons why we played so much better at the end of the year. We were match-tested and that proved itself out today. We played a really good match. I told this team I wanted them to set the standard, not for this team here, but for teams to come. Getting to the quarters was one and getting to the Final Four would have been another one as well. The reason why they set the standard is not because of their wins and loses, but because of the attitude they had. We used to be satisfied with winning a round in the regional tournament and now they are really mad that they lost in the quarters.