Mississippi State
Georgia
MSU Women's Tennis Drops 6-1 Decision To #3 Georgia; Banikova Posts Upset
April 06, 2007 | Women's Tennis
Georgia (16-1, 8-1 SEC) grabbed the early lead taking doubles wins at courts #1 and #3. First off the court, MSU's Renee Joseph and Daniela Juskova fell to UGA's Frazier and Naoka Ueshima 8-2. Georgia clinched the first point at the top position with an 8-3 decision by the 10th-ranked tandem of Yvette Hyndman and Darya Ivanov over State's Banikova and Valeriya Makarycheva. On court #2, State's Elna de Villiers and DeAndra Saddler took an early 4-1 lead before UGA's duo of Monika Dancevic and Kelley Hyndman battled back to earn an 8-7(3) tiebreak victory.
Georgia grabbed the first three singles matches to clinch its eighth SEC win. In the first match complete, MSU's Juskova dropped a 6-0, 6-2 match to Georgia's 61st-ranked Yvette Hyndman at the No. 3 position. At No. 5, UGA extended its lead to 3-0 with 81 st-ranked Ivanov claiming a 6-1, 6-1 straight-set triumph from State's Saddler. At No. 6, Georgia Bulldog Ueshima took her match against State's Makarycheva 6-1, 7-5 to wrap up the Georgia victory. Improving UGA's lead to 5-0, MSU's Joseph fell to Ueshima 6-4, 6-3 at No. 4.
State gained its lone point of the day in a battle at the top position. There, MSU's Banikova came out victorious, upsetting the nation's seventh-ranked player Frazier. Banikova won a lengthy tiebreaker 18-16 for the first set and gained a 1-0 lead in the second before Frazier retired the match.
Last off the court, State's de Villiers came back after a 6-0 first set loss to take the second set 6-1 over Georgia's Dancevic. In the final set, however, Dancevic answered back, taking it 6-4 to close the day.
"Georgia proved why they are the No. 3 team in the country,"said MSU Head Coach Tracy Lane. "For us to beat a team like Georgia we have to out run and out work them. And I feel we did that on some of the courts. We worked on playing a lot of balls. We lost to a good team and we are definitely improving. I just would like to see us become more aggressive in doubles."
The Lady Bulldogs continue the weekend's action hosting No. 24 Tennessee this Easter Sunday, April 8. The match is slated for 1 p.m. at the Pitts Tennis Centre. The match against the Lady Vols will end the 2007 home slate for the Lady Bulldogs.
#3 Georgia 6, #75 Mississippi State 1
Starkville, Miss. ??“ 04-06-07
DOUBLES ??“ #10 Yvette Hyndman/Darya Ivanov (UGA) def. Martina Banikova/Valeriya Makarycheva (MSU) 8-3; Monika Dancevic/Kelley Hyndman (UGA) def. Elna de Villiers/DeAndra Saddler (MSU) 8-7(3); Natalie Frazier/Naoka Ueshima (UGA) def. Renee Joseph/Daniela Juskova (MSU) 8-2.
SINGLES ??“ #71 Banikova (MSU) def. #7 Frazier (UGA) 7-6(16), 1-0, ret.; #33 Dancevic (UGA) def. de Villiers (MSU) 6-0, 1-6, 6-4; #61 Y. Hyndman (UGA) def. Juskova (MSU) 6-0, 6-2; K. Hyndman (UGA) def. Joseph (MSU) 6-4, 6-3; #81 Ivanov (UGA) def. Saddler (MSU) 6-1, 6-1; Ueshima (UGA) def. Makarycheva (MSU) 6-1, 7-5.
(numbers preceding names are current national rankings)
Players Mentioned
