Quick Georgia preview:
It's a rematch of last year's NCAA quarterfinal, when Stanford won 4-0 behind a quick doubles point (thanks to Lampl/Yee at #2 and Lord/Shin at #3) and singles wins from Lord (6-1, 6-2 over Kennedy Shaffer), Lampl (6-4, 6-2 over Marta Gonzalez), and Arbuthnott (6-4, 6-2 over Mariana Gould). When the match was abandoned, Gordon had won the first set over Jokic and was on serve at 3-4 in the second, Shin was just starting her third set, and Higuchi had bounced back from losing a first-set tiebreaker to go up a break in the second.
From that team, we've lost nobody, while Georgia lost their #2 and #4, and their #6 has been supplanted by another player, so the only rematches will be Gordon-Jokic at #1 and Shin-Christofi at #5. Georgia is a very young team, with freshmen at #3 and #6, sophomores at #1 and #4, and juniors at #2 and #5. But youth aside, they just knocked off Vanderbilt after losing the doubles point, so this might be a more dangerous Georgia team than last year.
Doubles:
1. #11 Lampl/Yee (3-0 in duals) vs. Vivian Wolff/Lourdes Carle (1-3 in duals)
2. #13 Arbuthnott/Gordon (1-0) vs. Morgan Coppoc/Eleni Christofi (3-1)
3. #31 Lord/Madurawe (4-0) vs. Katarina Jokic/Meg Kowalski (2-1)
Singles:
1. #23 Gordon (3-0) vs. #2 Katarina Jokic (4-1)
2. #46 Lord (3-1) vs. #10 Marta Gonzalez (3-2)
3. #57 Lampl (4-0) vs. #102 Lourdes Carle (4-1)
4. #14 Arbuthnott (5-0) vs. #58 Vivian Wolff (4-1)
5. #37 Shin (3-1) vs. Eleni Christofi (4-1)
6. #44 Higuchi (1-1) vs. #84 Meg Kowalski (5-0)
Analysis
Don't let the lack of ranked teams fool you--Georgia plays good doubles, and all three matches against Vanderbilt were close before the Commodores took that point. Georgia then got singles wins at #1 (Jokic beat Fernanda Contreras 4-6, 6-1, 6-2), #3 (another three-setter), #5 (7-5 in the third set, from 1-5 down), and #6 (another three-setter). A great comeback win, and one that should make the Bulldogs feel pretty confident today. Like us, they fight.
Gordon has been playing some great tennis, but you don't want to count on a win at #1 against a great player like Jokic. At #6, Kowalski is 5'4", so hopefully Higuchi can handle her, but Kowalski also hasn't lost a dual match yet, so we'll see shortly.
Live scoring/video:
http://scores.tennisticker.de/usa/ita/wi...25&ci2=646
https://gohuskies.com/sports/2018/2/8/wo...tream.aspx
FYI, Lampl/Yee are on Court 1, Arbuthnott/Gordon are on Court 3, and Lord/Madurawe are on Court 5. It's early, but here we are:
1. Leading 2-1 (up a break)
2. Leading 2-1 (up a break)
3. Trailing 1-2 (on serve)
Getting the doubles point would do a great deal for my nerves; all four remaining teams are very good and very deep, so every point counts.
Doubles:
1. Leading 5-2 (up a double break and cruising)
2. Trailing 3-4 (on serve; but with four straight breaks of serve before that last hold from Georgia, that doesn't mean much)
3. Trailing 3-4 (on serve; lost deuce point on Georgia's serve, then an easy Lord hold, and then another lost deuce point on Georgia's serve--frustrating)
Doubles:
1. Lampl/Yee won 6-3 (had a match point, gave one of those breaks back, but broke back to take the match)
2. Trailing 4-5 (on serve; four straight breaks of serve before three straight holds; Gordon will serve to stay in it, as a break will give Georgia the doubles point)
3. Lord/Madurawe lost 6-4. Georgia served for it up 5-3, we broke at love to get it back on serve, and Lord was serving up 40-0 but lost four straight points, including a double fault on deuce/match point. Just brutal.