Lady Vols Fall at Georgia, 7-0

Saturday, March 10

Athens, Ga.

12:00 PM

University of Tennessee

Georgia

March 10, 2018 | Women's Tennis

ATHENS, Ga. -- The 28th-ranked Tennessee women's tennis team fell on the road to No. 7 Georgia, 7-0, at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex on Saturday afternoon.

"The most exciting part of today is that we competed at all nine spots," said Alison Ojeda. "That's something our team has been craving. I've felt all season long that we just need to keep gaining match-play experience so we can improve our mental toughness, and today, we did just that. Literally every player on our team got better today. Of course, it hurts to lose close matches, but we made Georgia beat us, we didn't beat ourselves. In the world of athletics and against the No. 7 team in the country, that's something to be proud of.

"We are leaving Athens today knowing exactly who we are. We are a team who is willing to put in the work that it takes, every single point, to get better. I'm proud of the team we are becoming."

Despite solid play from the Lady Vols (12-3, 0-3 SEC), Georgia was able to win four crucial tiebreaks in singles to halt UT from gaining any momentum. Although it was a tough loss, Tennessee showed a lot of promise with its performance.

"Credit to Georgia, that is a highly skilled and very competitive team," said assistant coach Ty Schaub. "We played some really high-level tennis at some spots today. At four spots, we were in it right until the very end against some very talented and hard-fighting tennis players. If we can come to play the rest of the season like we did today, we will have some very good things to come"

"I'm so proud of my teammates for putting up the fight we did," said Sadie Hammond. "We didn't get the result we wanted today, but we are so close and I know we will bounce back even stronger. Our heart and fight is unwavering. This match made us better and I already can't wait for the opportunities this weekend and to be able to finally play at home. I hope everyone gets the chance to come out and support us because our energy and passion is contagious."

Tennessee returns home for the first time in over a month for a three-match weekend against South Carolina on Friday night at 6 p.m. before a doubleheader against Florida (12 p.m.) and Lipscomb (4 p.m.).

"To be out there fighting alongside our girls today was an unbelievable feeling," said Ariadna Riley. "We played some of the most competitive, high level, and focused tennis I have seen so far this year. Everyone left all they had out on the court today, and fought their tails off until the very end. Being a native of Georgia, and seeing how close we were in each match to almost take down a historically top ten team, made me ridiculously proud to be wearing the power T, and most importantly, of the strides our program has made as a result of our hard work and dedication to representing our school to the best of our abilities. I think as a team, knowing we were right there with one of the toughest schools in our conference, helped exponentially in terms of our belief and confidence, and were looking forward to displaying this against South Carolina and Florida this upcoming weekend."

For the most up-to-date information about the Tennessee women's tennis program, follow @Vol_WTennis on Twitter.

#7 Georgia 7, #28 Tennessee 0
Singles
1. #2 Katarina Jokic (UGA) def. Sadie Hammond (UT), 4-6, 7-5, 7-6 (2)
2. #59 Kennedy Shaffer (UGA) def. Ariadna Riley (UT), 7-6 (6), 6-4
3. Elena Christofi (UGA) def. Elizabeth Profit (UT), 7-5 (8), 7-6
4. #125 Mariana Gould (UGA) def. Gabby Schuck (UT), 6-0, 6-4
5. Vivian Wolff (UGA) def. Kaitlin Staines (UT), 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (3)
6. #93 Morgan Coppoc (UGA) def. Johanna Silva (UT), 6-2, 6-2

Doubles
1. #10 Christofi/Coppoc (UGA) def. #69 Riley/Staines (UT), 6-2
2. Gould/Jokic (UGA) def. Hammond/Profit (UT) 6-4
3. Silva/Schuck (UT) vs. Goulak/Shaffer (UGA), 5-4 unf.

Order of finish: Doubles (1, 2); Singles (6, 4, 2, 5, 3, 1)