Auburn women’s tennis tops Georgia

AUBURN, Ala. — The No. 4 Georgia women’s tennis team suffered its first loss in Southeastern Conference play as it fell 4-3 on the road to No. 16 Auburn at the Yarbrough Tennis Center on Sunday.

The Bulldogs’ (13-4, 8-1 SEC) opened the day out in front after earning the doubles point.

After losing the match on court two, Georgia leveled the courts as No. 16 Aysegul Mert and Dasha Vidmanova earned a top 10 ranked win against No. 9 Ariana Arseneault and DJ Bennett (Auburn), 6-2.

Mell Reasco and Anastasiia Lopata handled the rest as they took down Carolyn Ansari and Selin Ovunc (Auburn), 6-3, to earn the doubles point for the Bulldogs.

In singles play, Georgia trailed for the first time in the match after losses on courts two, three and four.

Down 3-1 on the scoreboard, Guillermina Grant pulled one back for the Bulldogs, coming back from a set down to win 3-6, 6-0, 6-4 against Adeline Flach (Auburn) and cut the team deficit to 3-2.

After dropping the second set late in the tiebreaker, No. 91 Mai Nirundorn capped off a three-set battle on court six with a 6-2, 6(5)-7, 6-4 victory over Ali DeSpain (Auburn) to put the Bulldogs level at 3-3 with the match lying in the balance on court one.

Trailing after one set, No. 24 Vidmanova battled back to win the second and force a third set, but ultimately fell just short in the end on court one as Auburn escaped with the win.

Georgia will now return to Athens to close out the regular season with four home matches starting with hosting Mississippi State on Friday, April 5 at 5 p.m. ET followed by No. 30 Ole Miss on Sunday, April 7 at 1 p.m. ET, with both matches taking place at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex.

No. 4 GEORGIA vs MISSISSIPPI STATE

Date: Friday, April 5

Time: 5 p.m. ET

Location: Athens, Ga.

Venue: Dan Magill Tennis Complex

Live Video/Scoring: https://gado.gs/9y9

No. 4 GEORGIA vs No. 30 OLE MISS

Date: Sunday, April 7

Time: 1 p.m. ET

Location: Athens, Ga.

Venue: Dan Magill Tennis Complex

Live Video/Scoring: https://gado.gs/9y9

Singles Results

No. 18 Carolyn Ansari (AUB) def. No. 24 Dasha Vidmanova (UGA), 6-4, 5-7, 6-3

No. 62 DJ Bennett (AUB) def. No. 75 Mell Reasco (UGA), 6-2, 6-1

No. 74 Ariana Arseneault (AUB) def. No. 80 Anastasiia Lopata (UGA), 6-4, 6-3

Angella Okutoyi (AUB) def. Aysegul Mert (UGA), 6-4, 6-4

Guillermina Grant (UGA) def. Adeline Flach (AUB), 3-6, 6-0, 6-4

No. 91 Mai Nirundorn (UGA) def. Ali Despain (AUB), 6-2, 6-7 (5-7), 6-4

Doubles Results

No. 16 Aysegul Mert/Dasha Vidmanova (UGA) def. No. 9 Ariana Arseneault/DJ Bennett (AUB), 6-2

Adeline Flach/Angella Okutoyi (AUB) def. No. 35 Guillermina Grant/Mai Nirundorn (UGA), 6-1

Mell Reasco/Anastasiia Lopata (UGA) def. Carolyn Ansari/Selin Ovunc (AUB), 6-3

Match Notes:

No. 4 Georgia (13-4, 8-1 SEC)

No. 16 Auburn (13-8 7-3 SEC)

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