The University of Mississippi Athletics
Florida Women's Tennis Claims 10th SEC Tournament Title
4/23/2000 | Women's Tennis
April 23, 2000
OXFORD, Miss. - The No. 2 seed Florida, overpowered No. 1 seed Georgia in singles for a 5-1 win Sunday afternoon at the Palmer/Salloum Tennis Center to claim its 10th SEC Tournament title.
The Lady Gators improve to 21-2 overall while Georgia drops to 21-2. Florida snapped Georgia's 14-match win streak and avenged a 5-2 loss to the Lady Bulldogs in the regular season. The Lady Gators have won 10 of the 13 tournament titles since the team format was adopted.
"We did a tremendous job of competing today," Florida head coach Andy Brandi said. "For the first time we competed for each other. We sustained that competitive drive whether we were ahead or not. Our willingness to fight made the difference."
Florida won in straight sets on courts 4, and 5, while Georgia won on court 6 in two sets. But the Lady Gators outlasted Georgia in three sets on courts one, and three to take a 4-1 lead, and then Jessica Lehnhoff clinched it with a 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 win over Lady Bulldog Esther Knox at No. 2 singles.
"You have to credit Florida a great deal," Georgia head coach Jeff Wallace said. "They came out and played extremely hard. We are in the midst of a great year. I am proud of my team for being SEC Champions and we were hoping to be tournament champions, but unfortunately that didn't happen."
SEC WOMEN'S TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS - Oxford, Miss.
FINAL
#2 Florida 5#1 Georgia 1
SINGLES
#1 Whitney Laiho (UF) def. Aarthi Venkatesan (UGA) 6-4, 4-6, 6-0
#2 Jessica Lehnhoff (UF) def. Esther Knox (UGA) 6-3, 4-6, 6-3
#3 Stephanie Hazlett (UF) def. Marissa Catlin (UGA) 6-3, 4-6, 6-1
#4 Baili Camino (UF) def. Lori Grey (UGA) 6-2, 6-3
#5 Traci Green (UF) def. Kelly Baskin (UGA) 7-6(3), 6-3
#6 Anne Nguyen (UGA) def. Julia Scaringe (UF) 6-3, 6-0
Doubles were not played
