ATHENS – With Georgia’s other team and individual entries making quick and relatively disappointing exits from the NCAA tennis tournament, it was left to Chelsey Gullickson and Nadja Gilchrist to give the Bulldogs something to bark about. And they did for a good long time, reaching the finals in women’s doubles.
But home-court favoritism was not enough to overcome the talent and raw determination of Stanford’s No. 2-seeded team of Mallory Burdette and Nicole Gibbs. Only 80 minutes after meeting each other in the singles championship, they joined forces to dispatch the Lady Bulldogs 6-2, 6-4. The fact the match was forced indoors due to rain seemed to only expedite the result.
“It’s probably one of the biggest days in our program’s history,” Stanford coach Lele Forood said. “So it’s very exciting, especially because no one’s graduating. It’s quite an amazing day.”
Forood was in the uncomfortable position of having to watch Gibbs and Burdette go against each for the singles championship only a short time earlier. The third-seeded Gibbs, a sophomore from Santa Monica, Calif., overcame a 1-4 deficit in the second set -- and a 2-5 deficit in a second-set tiebreaker -- to beat her teammate 2-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-3 at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex.
“I just didn’t let myself give up at that point,” Gibbs said of her comeback. "I’d worked too hard to get where I was in this tournament to just lay down. But at the same time, I got lucky turning that match around and I still consider myself very lucky for that win.”
There was nothing lucky about their doubles victory. Most thought since they’d toiled through three sets in singles, the Lady Bulldogs would enjoy a conditioning advantage since they hadn’t been burdened with the extra play. But what was overlooked was how the singles match served to sharpen the games and focus of the Stanford women for a match against in team that would be coming in cold.
“You could tell they were warmed up right from the beginning,” said Georgia’s Gullickson, a senior who became an eight-time All-American during this tournament. “Me and Nadja kind of started off slow.”
Gilchrist and Gullickson felt somewhat disadvantaged from the outset. Rain fell soon after the singles championships were completed. And though the skies were clearing in short order, the decision was made to move indoors rather than to take more time to dry the courts and further delay the tournament’s completion. The men’s doubles match between teams from Ohio State and Texas Tech was delayed at the same time with the Buckeyes leading 5-4 in the first set.
“The indoor courts are faster and starting off the first few games it was pretty rocky because they do hit hard, big shots,” Georgia’s Gilchrist said. “In the end, I think it kind of mattered.”
Earlier in the day, Southern Cal’s Steve Johnson won the NCAA men’s singles title for the second year in a row. The No. 1 seed defeated No. 3 seed Eric Quigley of Kentucky 6-4, 6-4 in the finals.
Though the singles bracket indicates Johnson cruised through the 64-man draw -- he dropped just one set the whole tournament -- but the reality is he endured pain throughout. That was evidenced at his post-match press conference, where ice packs clung to his midsection as well as his shins.
“No one will ever know how hurt he was,” said USC coach Peter Smith, who listed a pulled abdominal muscle and stress fractures, or shin splints, in Johnson’s legs. “He had food poisoning last week, too. He’s probably not going to play for four to six weeks now. But I knew if he could see the finish line he would get through it because that’s the kind of kid he is.”
Said Johnson: “I’m glad to finally be done with this whole tournament. It’s been a stressful couple of weeks. But today’s match is a testament to all the hard work I’ve put in with Peter, (assistant coach) George (Husack) and our training staff.”
The 16,460 who had the good fortune to see Johnson at work these past two weeks have an old Bulldog to thank. Former NCAA tennis champion John Isner told Johnson after he won his first title that “it’s OK to stay four; don’t let anyone tell you it’s not.”
Ohio State’s top-seeded doubles team of Chase Buchanan and Blaz Rola made tennis history on Monday by becoming the first to claim the elusive triple crown of college tennis. The Buckeyes’ duo won the ITA All-American outdoor tournament in the fall, the USTA/ITA Indoor Championships in November and now the NCAA title. Previously, Isner and Antonio Ruiz of Georgia had been the only pair to claim all three titles, and they were unable to do it in the same academic year.
“We didn’t find out about the triple crown until [Sunday],” Rola said. “We certainly felt the rush on the match points. . . . So many great doubles teams have played college tennis; to be the only team to accomplish this is unbelievable.”
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