Women’s Tennis Falls To #6 Georgia, 4-3

Feb. 7, 2009

CLEMSON, SC – Clemson junior Ani Mijacika defeated her third straight top-10 opponent, but the #11 Tiger women’s tennis team fell just short in its upset attempt of sixth-ranked Georgia on Saturday afternoon at the Clemson Indoor Tennis Center. The Tigers (5-1) won the doubles point for the fifth time this season, but the Bulldogs (5-0) won four singles matches for the 4-3 victory.

Fourth-ranked Mijacika won the first set over #7 Chelsey Gullickson, 6-2, before the Georgia freshman eked out the 7-5 win in the second. Mijacika then downed Gullickson in the third set, posting a 6-1 decision to remain perfect in singles play during the dual season at 6-0.

Fellow junior Estefania Balda was the only other Tiger player to pick up the win in singles on Saturday as she rebounded from a first-set loss to defeat Monika Dancevic at flight four (4-6, 6-2, 6-2).

Clemson teams won matches at the top two doubles positions to take the 1-0 lead in the match. Mijacika partnered with Ina Hadziselimovic defeated Dancevic and Nadja Gilchrist by the same margin at the second spot.

The tandem of Balda and Alexandra Luc fell to Naoku Ueshima and Cameron Ellis at flight three, 8-3.

Hyndmann and Gilchrist won their singles matches at flights two and three over Bek and Wong, respectively, to score the Bulldogs first two points and narrow the Tigers’ lead to just one. Ueshima then defeated Luc at the fifth position (6-2, 6-1) and Hadziselimovic fell to Ellis at flight six (6-4, 6-1) to secure the win for Georgia.

Clemson will return to action on Friday as the Tigers open play at the ITA National Team Indoor Championships in Madison, WI. #6 Georgia def. #11 Clemson, 4-3 Doubles 1. Mijacika/Wong (CU) def. Hyndman/Gullickson (UGA) – 8-1 2. Bek/Hadziselimovic (CU) def. Dancevic/Gilchrist (UGA) – 8-1 3. Ueshima/Ellis (UGA) def. Balda/Luc (CU) – 8-3 Singles 1. #4 Ani Mijacika (CU) def. #7 Chesley Gullickson (UGA) – 6-2, 5-7, 6-1 2. #100 Yvette Hyndmann (UGA) def. #10 Josipa Bek (CU) – 7-6(4), 6-4 3. #44 Nadja Gilchrist (UGA) def. #111 Keri Wong (CU) – 6-3, 4-6, 6-1 4. Estefania Balda (CU) def. #101 Monika Dancevic (UGA) – 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 5. #123 Naoko Ueshima (UGA) def. #117 Alexandra Luc (CU) – 6-2, 6-1 6. Cameron Ellis (UGA) def. Ina Hadziselimovic (CU) – 6-4, 6-1