Beyond the Hedges: UGA Sports Roundup

It's been a busy week in volleyball. With a sweep of Abuurn Friday at home, 3-0 (25-19, 25-21, 25-19), the Dawgs climbed back to 0.500 in conference play. The women were at it again on Sunday hosting Ole Miss and with a 3-2 (20-25, 25-22, 23-25, 25-9, 15-10) win improved to 5-4 in SEC play and 11-7 over all. Georgia quickly returned to action on Tuesday to host Georgia Tech at Stegeman for the first volleyball match in that venue since the 1996 Olympics, but fell to the Jackets 3-1 (25-21, 21-25, 19-25, 22-25).

The Diamond Dogs are in the middle of their "fall World Series", a seven-game, all-UGA scrimmage baseball series. Play started Saturday, with the seventh game scheduled for Tuesday, 23 October. Consult the schedule and make plans to attend a game or three, if you can. All games are free and open to the public. Also, be sure to check out Mr. Sanchez's excellent roundup of Diamond Dogs in the professional ranks from last week.

If you missed attending the event, you can check out video of the men's and women's basketball programs' Basketbash preseason kickoff event last Friday. But if you really want to get heated up for basketball season, I once again refer you to Mr. Sanchez's fine work from last week in which he breaks down the positions and season outlook. Seriously. The season tips off two weeks from tomorrow.

The women's tennis team hosted the Bulldog Classic tournament over the weekend. Indiana and Virginia visited the Dan Magill Tennis Complex for a round-robin tournament in singles and doubles. UVA's Stephanie Nauta captured the singles title, but our own Kate Fuller and Lauren Herring took the doubles title by going undefeated on the weekend.

The men's and women's swimming and diving teams were in Atlanta Wednesday to take on Tech in both Georgia teams' opening competition. Hm. With the volleyball match the night before in Stegeman, I prompted to wonder how often Tech and Georgia meet in athletic competition in the same week at two different 1996 Olympics venues. The good guys and gals won. Women: 176-115 ; men: 161-133. Coach Jack Bauerle has never lost against the Trade School, notching records of 18-0 as women's coach, 7-0 as men's coach, and 3-0 as a Bulldog swimmer. That's definitely a UGA Point of Pride.

Tough weekend for the soccer team. Friday, Georgia battled Abuurn to a scoreless match for 84 minutes until the visiting Tigers scored a goal off a UGA turnover, handing the Dawgs a 1-0 loss. Then on Sunday afternoon, Georgia again battled for a scoreless 84 minutes, but this time after Kentucky had scored six minutes into the match, resulting in an identical 1-0 setback at the last home contest of the season. As in volleyball, Georgia is saved from taking last-place honors in the Eastern Division only by South Carolina's even worse record.

The men's golf team wrapped up its fourth tournament of the fall on Tuesday with a sixth-place finish at the AutoTrader.com Collegiate Classic in Duluth at 36 over par, 29 strokes off tournament winner Georgia Southern.

And last but by no means least, your No. 1 equestrian team was out in Waco last Friday, taking on then No. 5 Baylor, and rode to a 14-10 victory, plenty good enough to hang onto the top ranking another week. Once again, it's an SEC-dominated sport, with South Carolina, Abuurn, and Texas A&M holding down the second through fourth spots.

Feel caught up? I hope so. Try not to forget about football, though. This week's podcast is up, and MaconDawg will be along later today to serve up Thursday's cocktail. And all of us here at Dawg Sports are hoping you're making plans to join us Saturday in Athens for the Third Annual Dawg Sports Sacrificial Goat Roastt for some socializing and Wildcat whoopin'.

GO DAWGS!