April 18, 1998
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Florida and Georgia, the top two seeds of the Southeastern Conference Women’s Tennis Tournament, will meet in the championship match at noon Sunday at the Hilary J. Boone Tennis Center. The two schools are the only SEC teams to ever win the conference tournament. Georgia, seeded second in the tournament and ranked fourth in the country, advanced to the finals by defeating sixth-ranked Tennessee 5-2. The Bulldogs (18-3) picked up four singles wins to help lead them to the victory. Georgia’s Marissa Catlin, the nation’s second-ranked singles player, dominated No. 21 Manisha Malhotra 6-1, 6-2, and Aarthi Venkatesan defeated UT’s Margie Lepsi 6-2, 6-3.
“When the conditions are cold, you have to concentrate extra hard,” Venkatesan said. “I’ve played Margie before, and she’s a great competitor. It was a good match.”
Tennessee (15-10) won the No. 4 and No. 5 singles matches in three sets to force doubles play. UT’s Vinny Seiverling outlasted Lauren Rose 6-1, 4-6, 6-3 at No. 5 singles.
“I knew I could win the match if I kept my composure,” Seiverling said. “I felt our team had a great tournament. We have come back from a lot of injuries this season and we really played very hard against Georgia.” The Georgia duo of Lauren Rose and Christa Gray beat Whitney Dill and Erin Lowrey 8-3 in doubles to clinch the match for the Bulldogs. “When you’re up 4-2, sometimes that’s the scariest position to be in,” Georgia head coach Jeff Wallace said. “But we played great in doubles. All in all it was a great day for us.”
In the second semifinal, first-seeded and second-ranked Florida (22-0) defeated fifth-seeded Arkansas 5-1. M.C. White and Bonnie Bleecker won in straight sets, while 13th-ranked Dawn Buth and Stephanie Nickitas needed three sets to win. Nickitas won 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, over Andrea Ho, while Buth outlasted Maria Pavlidou 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (9-7).
“It was weird because I definitely didn’t feel in control in the last set at all, especially when I was down 2-5,” Buth said. “I just hung in there and tried to make it work.”
The Lady Razorbacks’ Brandy Brown picked up the only singles point for Arkansas, defeating Stephanie Hazlett 6-4, 6-4, in the No. 5 singles match.
With the win, Florida makes its 11th appearance in the championship match. The Gators will try to win their fourth straight SEC title and 56th consecutive match over a SEC opponent. The last time Florida lost a SEC match was vs. Georgia in the 1994 SEC Tournament finals.
COMPLETE AGATE#2 GEORGIA 5, #6 TENNESSEE 1 Singles:1. Marissa Catlin (GA) def. Manisha Malhotra (UT) 6-1, 6-2 2. Aarthi Venkatesan (GA) def. Margie Lepsi (UT) 6-2, 6-3 3. Vanessa Castellano (GA) def. Whitney Dill (UT) 6-4, 5-7, 6-2 4. Erin Lowrey (UT) def. Jane Reid (GA) 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 5. Vinny Seiverling (UT) def. Lauren Rose (GA) 6-1, 4-6, 6-3 6. Christa Gray (GA) def. Megan Russell (UT) 6-4, 6-1
Doubles:1. Catlin/Castellano (GA) vs. Malhotra/Lepsi, DNF 2. Reid/Venkatesan (GA) vs. Reid/Russell, DNF 3. Gray/Rose (GA) def. Dill/Lowrey (UT) 8-3
#1 FLORIDA 5, #5 ARKANSAS 1Singles:1. Dawn Buth (UF) def. Maria Pavlidou (Ark.) 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (9-7) 2. M.C. White (UF) def. Louise Ostling (Ark.) 6-1, 6-2 3. Stephanie Nickitas (UF) def. Andrea Ho (Ark.) 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 4. Whitney Laiho (UF) def. Kendra Howard (Ark.) 6-1, 0-6, 6-2 5. Brandy Brown (Ark.) def. Stephanie Hazlett (UF) 6-4, 6-4 6. Bonnie Bleecker (UF) def. Adriana Garcia (Ark.) 6-3, 6-1
Sunday’s Schedule:Championship Match – #2 Georgia vs. #1 Florida, noon
