The matchup and the moment proved to be too much for Georgia’s Lauren Herring and Maho Kowase. The Bulldogs’ No. 2-seeded doubles team was throttled by Alabama’s Erin Routliffe and Maya Jensen 6-1, 6-0 in the NCAA championship finals Monday at Dan Magill Tennis Complex.
It was the first national title of any kind for Alabama tennis. Meanwhile, the multi-titled Bulldogs remain winless in five national doubles finals appearances.
But the outcome wasn’t entirely surprising. It was the third time this season Georgia’s top doubles team fell to the fourth-seeded Alabama duo.
“For some reason we seem to always struggle against them,” said Herring, who was also seeded sixth in the singles draw. “Then I think the moment just kind of got to us, especially early, and it kind of went downhill from there… I was seeming to hit, like, the buildings and the stands and not the court. It was weird because I’ve played in situations like this before, but it hasn’t quite gotten to me like this.”
Herring-Kowase lost to Jansen-Routliffe 8-3 both times they met in team dual-match play this season. The Crimson Tide then jumped on them hard as the national championship match commenced on Court 1 of the Henry Feild Stadium courts Monday. They won the first 10 points and 16 of the first 18.
“We had a great game plan going in,” said Alabama’s Jansen, a sophomore from Valleyford, Wash. “We just kind of embraced the moment. I guess that’s what happened. We got off to a great start and I think that calmed our nerves and maybe made them more nervous.”
The doubles championship culminated one of the best years ever for Alabama tennis. With a 4-3 come-from-behind win over Georgia on April 11 the Crimson Tide clinch its first-ever SEC regular-season championship. Its round-of-16 run was its deepest ever in the team tournament.
“We’re just so happy to bring it home to Tuscaloosa,” said Routliffe, a native of Ontario, Canada, who was named SEC co-freshman of the year. “We’ve played Georgia here and we knew how the crowd was going to be.
The loss ended a somewhat disappointing NCAA tournament for the Lady Bulldogs (24-5). Coming in ranked first and seeded first, the Bulldogs fell to Florida 4-1 in the quarterfinals of the team draw and did not have a player advance past the round of 16 in singles despite having three entrants.
But Georgia did capture the program’s seventh SEC tournament title in April and tallied its 23rd 20-win season under coach Jeff Wallace. As for the noncompetitive doubles final, Wallace said, “In sports terms, you’d just have to say they pitched a no-hitter.”
Herring and Kowase end the season 36-7 in doubles, and 50-9 over the last two years. Kowase, who graduated this month, ends her career as an All-American and a four-time All-SEC First Team selection. This season, Kowase became the winningest player in Georgia history with a combined 245 career singles and doubles wins.
“I was so happy that I could play in front of fans and with Lauren [Herring],” Kowase said. “I am upset, but I feel very happy that I could play my last match [in Athens]. [Alabama] just played really well. It was the best four years of my life.”
The women’s doubles title was one of four national championships decided Monday at UGA’s palatial tennis complex. Marcos Giron became UCLA’s 11th NCAA champion in men’s singles, while Virginia’s Danielle Collins recorded the first women’s singles champion in the history of her school.
The men’s doubles final was nothing like the women’s. All three sets were decided in tiebreakers before Tennessee’s team of Mikelis Libietis and Hunter Reese finally prevailed 8-6 over Ohio State’s Peter Kobelt and Kevin Metka in the final one.
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