ATHENS, Ga. — The No. 6 Georgia Bulldogs looked every bit of that national ranking. The unranked New Mexico Lobos looked every bit like a Mountain West contender. The Bulldogs swept New Mexico 4-0, but it wasn’t nearly as easy as that final showed, as UNM battled despite facing three nationally-ranked singles opponents.
Georgia moved to 1-0 and will face Illinois, a 4-2 winner over Georgia State in the Athens Regional final. New Mexico will take on Georgia State at 9 a.m. Mountain Time in Sunday.
The Bulldogs picked up the doubles point, getting a quick win at No. 2 doubles with a 6-1 win for Caroline Brinson and Kennedy Shaffer over Andrea Leblanc and Diana Wong. At No. 3 singles, Cassie Chung and Ruth Copas had a 4-2 lead on Marta Gonzalez and Mariana Gould, but dropped a serve to see it squad at 4-4. While that was going on, Ludivine Burguiere and Dominique Dulski battled back from down a break to squad their match with the nationally ranked doubles team of Ellen Perez and Eleni Christofi at 5-5. However, before that match can end, Chung and Copas dropped a serve and saw Gonzalez and Gould take the final four games for a 6-4 win.
Playing just the first four singles, UNM had to go against three singles players in the top 35 in No. 23 Christofi, No. 25 Shaffer and No. 35 Brinson. Leblanc played Christofi at No. 1 and dropped a 6-1, 6-2 decision. Dulski lost at No. 3 singles to Brinson 6-2, 6-3 to make it 3-0. Georgia clinched it with a 6-3, 6-2 win at No. 2 singles by Shaffer over Burguiere. Ruth Copas dropped her opening set at 6-1 but was even at 4-4 when the match ended.
Despite the shutout, head coach Stephanie Wooten-Quijada was proud of the teams’s effort and saw plenty of good signs.
“We really competed today with a great program,” said Wooten-Quijada. “I really liked the way we attacked when we had opportunities. Georgia is a tough match-up for anyone, but I’m looking forward to see how we play tomorrow against Georgia State.