I am generally pleased with our men's basketball team's performance this year (so far).  Our women's basketball team appears to be having a strong year, as well.  Kyle has done an excellent job of covering gymnastics, but some other ladies have given us a few things to be proud about, too.

Kara Lynn Joyce was just named NCAA Swimmer of the Year for the second time in as many years.  At the NCAA Championships, she won the 50 and 100 m freestyles.  Her 100m time set an all-time Georgia record and a record for the University Aquatic Center in Minneapolis where this year's championships were held.  She won those two events last year.  And the year before.  And the year before.  She is only the second woman in NCAA history to win four national titles in two events.  And she now is the second-most decorated athlete in NCAA history with 18 total national championships.

And one of the most beautiful stories to me all year has been the skyrocketing rankings of the women's tennis team.  Pre-season, they were ranked 24th.  Then they defeated number 28 Texas Tech and upset 6th-ranked Baylor.  They rose to 16th and plowed through unranked Winthrop, FSU, and Georgia Southern (inexplicably dropping to 17th for a week between FSU and GSU).  Then they upset number 12 Clemson amid the breezes off Lake Hartwell (nod) and took the Tigers' 12th ranking.  Next they took care of the North Avenue Trade School's team, ranked 6th, followed by unranked Arkansas (in Fayetteville) and LSU (in Baton Rouge), to rise to 3rd.  This past Friday (3/9), they took out unranked South Carolina.

Now, many people believe that football and men's basketball are the only intercollegiate sports that matter.  We all know how we've done of late against Florida in those sports.  But not only are the Gators the defending national champions (or hold a claim thereto, in the case of football - I'll avoid that debate) in those sports, but they lead us in the national gymnastics rankings and their women's tennis team is the top-ranked team in the country.  It all matters.  So it was with great pleasure that I read today that our women's tennis team defeated No. 1 Florida 4-3 at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex.

The first two doubles sets were split.  The third was a marathon ending with a Georgia victory (10-9) in a tie-breaker.  So UGA got the point.

When singles started, the Dogs lost five of the first six sets, and it was looking scary.  Georgia then rallied to win three of the singles points for the over-all victory.

It's great to be a Georgia Bulldog.  These ladies are doing us proud.

Update [2007-3-12 10:22:39 by NCT]: It's official today: the Gym Dogs, with their 197.875 score over Michigan last Friday, have surpassed Florida to take the number one spot in the country. I can't advise throwing this and the women's tennis victories in the faces of your Gator co-workers, but they are meaningful victories nonetheless.

[Update]: And there's more. The women's tennis team jumped past Notre Dame in the most recent national rankings to claim the number one spot as of yesterday, 13 March 2007. Sweet.