April 19, 2003

Knoxville, Tenn. – The 10th-ranked University of Kentucky women’s tennis team was eliminated from the semifinals of the Southeastern Conference Women’s Tennis Tournament on Saturday when they suffered a heartbreaking 4-1 defeat to No. 7 Georgia, at UT’s Goodfriend Tennis Center. The loss drops UK’s record to 21-7.

The third-seeded Cats went down 1-0 when they lost the doubles point to the second-seeded Bulldogs. UK’s Nathalie Roels and Shannon Stafford were beaten, 8-3, at No. 3 doubles by UGA’s Alexandra Smith and Douglas Wink. At No. 2 doubles, Leigh Bradwell and Jill Buckley were in control, leading 6-3 in their match with Georgia’s Tina Hojnik and Anne Nguyen, but the Bulldogs were able to fight back and eventually win, 8-6, and give the ‘Dawgs the advantage. At the No. 1 spot, UK’s 11th-ranked doubles tandem of Sarah Witten and Amy Trefethen were leading Georgia’s second-ranked duo of Agata Cioroch and Lori Grey, 7-6, when play was suspended.

In singles, Roels, ranked No. 101 in the country, quickly knotted the score, 1-1, with a 6-3, 6-0 straight-sets victory over No. 57 Nguyen, at the No. 2 position. At No. 4, Stafford was defeated 6-1 in the first set, to Grey, and then found herself down 5-0 in the second, but the fifth-year senior battled back to within 5-3 before ultimately falling 6-3, giving Georgia a 2-1 lead. Buckley also put up a tough fight in her No. 3 singles match with Hojnik. Hojnik took the first set 6-4 and in the second went up 3-1 when Buckley turned up the pressure and tied the set at 3-3. Hojnik would prove to be too much, however, and went on to take the set 6-4 and put the Bullogs up 3-1.

The victory-clinching point occurred at the No. 6 position. UK’s Shannon Stough found herself down 3-1 in the first set to Wink, but was able to recover and fight back to take the first set 6-4. In the second set, Stough fell quickly, losing 6-3. Wink was able to retain the momentum from her second-set victory and blew past Stough, 6-1, in the third set to secure the victory for Georgia and earn the Bulldogs a berth in Sunday’s tournament championship match.

“First I need to say congratulations to Georgia,” Coach Mark Guilbeau said. “They played a great match and we wish them good luck.

“We are very disappointed that we weren’t able to close out this victory. I feel so bad for these kids. Losing hurts a lot more than winning feels good and I’m committed to getting this team back to that feeling of victory. What’s made our season so special is that we know we’ve gotten better. We were better today than the last time we played Georgia and we realize that. It’s my job to make sure we keep improving as we head into the NCAA tournament.”

Witten and Trefethen were each playing at the No. 1 and No. 5 positions when Georgia clinched their victory. Trefethen was in a tough match with Smith at No. 5, dropping the first set 7-5. In the second set, Trefethen was battling to overcome a 5-4 deficit when play was stopped. At the No. 1 position, the 48th-ranked Witten was facing off against No. 2 Cioroch. Witten found herself down 4-1 in the first set and then battled back to 5-5 tie. Cioroch then won the final two games to take the first set 7-5. In the second set Witten dominated the Bulldog junior winning 6-2. Witten was up 5-3 in the third set when play was suspended, cutting short what would have been the biggest win of the UK senior’s career.

“We all have a very proud but empty feeling for Sarah,” Guilbeau said. “She deserved to get a result in that match. Most importantly, she’s showing that she can play at very high level of tennis and that only helps our team.”

Agate:
Doubles
1. #11 Sarah Witten/Amy Trefethen (UK) v. #2 Agata Cioroch/Lori Grey (UGA) 7-6 (UGA) suspended
2. Tina Hojnik/Anne Nguyen (UGA) def. Jill Buckley/Leigh Bradwell (UK) 8-6
3. Alexandra Smith/Douglas Wink (UGA) def. Shannon Stafford/Nathalie Roels (UK) 8-3

Singles
1. #48 Sarah Witten (UK) v. #2 Agata Cioroch (UGA) 5-7, 6-2, 5-3 (UK) suspended
2. #101 Nathalie Roels (UK) def. #57 Anne Nguyen (UGA) 6-3, 6-0
3. #60 Tina Hojnik (UGA) def. Jill Buckley (UK) 6-4, 6-4
4. Lori Grey (UGA) def. Shannon Stafford (UK) 6-1, 6-3
5. Amy Trefethen (UK) v. Alexandra Smith (UGA) 7-5, 5-4 (UGA) suspended
6. Douglas Wink (UGA) def. Shannon Stough (UK) 4-6, 6-3, 6-1