We’ve already brought you up to speed on the Lady Bulldogs’ NCAA Tournament loss in women’s basketball and the Diamond Dogs’ three-game series with Tennessee in baseball, but there was much more going on in Bulldog Nation over the weekend, the gist of which I will now sum up for your benefit:
Though the Georgia men’s tennis team will not return to action until Wednesday’s meet against Ohio State, not all Bulldog netters were idle this weekend. As DavetheDawg noted, John Isner notched a 7-6(7), 3-6, 7-6(5) triumph over No. 1 Novak Djokovic at the BNP Paribas Open, earning a spot in the tournament final (where he fell to Roger Federer) and his first-ever top ten world ranking.
For the second straight season and the seventh time in program history, the Georgia women’s swimming and diving team placed second at the NCAA Championships, trailing only national champion Cal. En route to a top two team finish, Georgia profited from Megan Romano’s establishment of a new American record of 1:41.21 in the 200 freestyle. The NCAA men’s swimming and diving competition will get underway on Thursday.
Kelley Hester’s link ladies stumbled out of the gate on Sunday, shooting eleven over par as a team through their first six holes in the final round of their weekend tournament in Gainesville, Fla. Nevertheless, the tenth-ranked Georgia women’s golf team succeeded in carding a fourth-place finish at the SunTrust Gator Invitational. Host Florida outplayed second-ranked Alabama by one stroke over the course of the 17-team competition. The Red and Black women will have their own home course advantage for the Liz Murphey Collegiate Classic in Athens two weeks hence.
Powered by the play of Nicholas Reach, the No. 21 Georgia men’s golf team earned a fifth-place finish in this weekend’s Furman Intercollegiate in Greenville, S.C. Nearby Clemson won the tournament with a 26-under 838, 29 strokes ahead of the Bulldogs’ three-over 867. With any luck, the proximity of the campus to the course will prove similarly decisive for the Red and Black next weekend, at the Linger Longer Invitational at Reynolds Plantation.
The Georgia softball team began its weekend series with a pitchers’ duel against No. 18 Auburn on Friday. Though Erin Arevalo struck out eight and held the Plainswomen to a trio of hits, the eighth-ranked Bulldogs committed three errors and recorded only one hit in a 2-0 loss. Georgia generated more offense in Saturday’s 6-3 victory at Jack Turner Stadium, as seniors Ashley Razey (2 for 2, 2 RBI) and Kristyn Sandberg (2 for 3, 1 RBI) together accounted for four of the Red and Black’s nine hits. Tess Sito improved to 6-0 with two and two-thirds innings of one-hit relief.
In this afternoon’s rubber match, Arevalo earned the win with a six-strikeout, three-hit complete-game performance, while Sandberg continued her hot streak at the plate by going two for two with an RBI and a walk. Following five scoreless stanzas, Auburn took the lead with a two-run shot in the sixth inning, but the Red and Black responded in their next turn at the plate, tying the game with a double, a passed ball, and a Tiger error. A two-run double with two outs away gave Georgia the 4-2 victory to clinch the SEC series triumph. The Athenians improved to 23-5 overall and 4-2 in conference play thanks to Sunday’s result, which left the Alabamians at 23-6 and 2-3, respectively.
Go ‘Dawgs!