April 19, 2008

Auburn, Ala. - The Florida Gators and the Georgia Bulldogs stay alive to compete in the SEC Women's Tennis Championship after Saturday's semifinal rounds of play.

The Bulldogs edged the Arkansas Lady Razorbacks 4-3 to advance to the championship. Florida defeated the Vanderbilt Commodores 4-2 to stay in the tournament.

The SEC Championship will be played Sunday at noon at the Yarbrough Tennis Center.

Georgia 4 Arkansas 3

Georgia defeated Arkansas in a three-set thriller in the quarterfinals of the SEC Women's tournament. The Dogs' Naoko Ueshima clinched the match with a win over Arkansas' Nanar Airapetian.

"It was a great match today," said Georgia head coach Jeff Wallace. "We met during the regular season and it was just as epic. It was great for Naoko to be in the final match again and to pull it off. We didn't do too well in doubles, but the team came out and fought hard for the win in singles."

Arkansas led the Bulldogs going into the singles with a two doubles victories. Georgia's Cameron Ellis tied the score with her victory on court four, and the dogs led when Kelly Hyndman defeated Ela Kaluder in the two spot.

The Backs came back with a win in the six spot when Delia Damaschin defeated Adrienne Elsberry. The score would remaine tied at three as Aurelija Misevicuite won for Arkansas on court one and Monika Dancevic won on court three.

All eyes were on court four as Ueshima and Airapetian battled into the third set. Ueshima dropped the first set 6-4, but came back to win 6-1 in the second. The two came two a 2-2 set in the third, but Ueshima pulled ahead of Airapetian to win 6-3, and keep the Bulldogs alive.

Georgia will face Florida in the SEC Championship at noon on Sunday.
Results
1. #2 Aurelija Miseviciute (Ark) def. #42 Yvette Hyndman (UGA) 7-6, 6-3
2. #76 Kelly Hyndman (UGA) def. #69 Ela Kaluder (Ark) 6-1, 6-4
3. #91 Monika Dancevic (UGA) def. Anouk Tigu (Ark) 6-3, 4-6, 6-1
4. #109 Naoko Ueshima (UGA) def. Nanar Airapetian (Ark) 4-6, 6-1, 6-3
5. Cameron Ellis (UGA) def. Audrey Bordeleau (Ark) 6-0, 6-3
6. Delia Damaschin (Ark) def. Adrienne Elsberry (UGA) vs. 6-3, 7-6, (5)

Order of Finish: 5, 2, 6,1,3,4

Doubles
1. #39 Misevicuite/Kaluder (Ark) def. #42 Y. Hyndman/K. Hyndman (UGA) 8-2
2. Airapetiam/Franco (Ark) def. (Ueshima/Ellis (UGA) DNF
3. Tigu/Bordeleau (Ark) def. Dancevic/Elsberry (UGA) 8-2

Order of Finish: 3, 1

Florida 4 Vanderbilt 2
The one-seed Florida Gators played a tough match to the Vanderbilt commodores and came out on top of a 4-2 victory to advance to the SEC Women's Tennis Championship.

Csilla Borsayni clinched the match for the Gators with her 6-3, 6-4 win over Vanderbilt's Catherine Newman in the number two singles spot. "It is always a classic battle between Vanderbilt and Florida. Both teams played high level tennis today. We have confidence going in to tomorrow because we know we can count on everyone. I am very happy overall. We looked sharp in doubles."

Also picking up wins for the Gators were Anastasia Revzina and Lolita Frangulyan. Amanda Taylor and Taka Bertrand accounted for the Commodores two points.

Florida's Whitney Benik and Borsayni clinched the doubles point for the Gators. Julia Cohen and Revzina also picked up a win in doubles.

Florida will face Georgia in the SEC Championship at noon on Sunday.
Singles
1. #23 Amanda Taylor (VU) def. #27 Julia Cohen (FL) 6-2, 6-0
2. #33 Csilla Borsanyi (FL) def. #46 Catherine Newman (VU) 6-3, 6-4
3. #118 Taka Bertrand (VU) def. Whitney Benik (FL) 6-3, 6-2
4. Marrit Boonstra (FL) def. #46 Courtney Ulery (VU) 6-2, 6-0
5. Anastasia Revzina (FL) vs. Keilly Ulery (VU) DNF
6. #110 Lolita Frangulyan (FL) def. Caroline Ferrell (VU) 6-2, 7-5

Order of Finish: 4, 1, 3, 6, 2

Doubles
1. Alexander/ Boonstra (FL) vs. Taylor/ Ulery (VU) DNF
2. Benik/ Borsanyi (FL) def. Newman/ Ferrell (VU) 8-3
3. #50 Cohen/ Revzina (FL) def. Bertrand/ Ulery (VU) 8-3

Order of Finish: 3, 2