ATHENS — The last contingent from a Georgia school still alive in the NCAA tennis tournament wasted no time Saturday in asserting their intentions to make a run for Monday's women's doubles championship.
Georgia’s Chelsey Gullickson and Nadja Gilchrist — both seniors and both playing their last matches on their home turf — jumped to an early first-set lead and survived a slight bump in the second set to take a 6-1, 6-2 victory over California’s Jana Juricova and Zsofi Susanyi, advancing to Sunday’s semifinals.
It was the Bulldogs tandem’s third consecutive day of superior doubles play as they defeated Duke's Beatrice Capra and Rachel Kahan 6-2, 7-5 on Thursday and eliminated Michigan’s Emina Bektas and Brooke Bolender 4-6, 7-6 (0), 6-1 on Friday.
“We played as good as we've played all year,” Georgia coach Jeff Wallace said. “It's been three great matches in this tournament.”
Gullickson and Gilchrist — who reached the doubles semifinals in 2010 in Athens — will meet UCLA’s Courtney Dolehide and Pamela Montez at 4 p.m. Sunday for a shot at the title. Dolehide and Montez defeated Baylor's Ema Burgic and Nina Secerbegovic 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 on Saturday to make the semis.
The Georgia duo took a 5-0 lead in the first set, surrendering a single point before finishing. In the second set, Juricova and Susanyi captured the first two games, but Gullickson and Gilchrist broke the pair three times before closing out their easiest victory yet.
“We’ve been keeping it really basic,” said Gullickson, who Friday earned her school-record eighth All-American honor. “Both of us are making our returns and any volleys that are close to the net, we might have missed one or two, but overall we're making all the easy shots, which makes for easy tennis out there.”
Gullickson was eliminated from the singles tournament in the first round Wednesday, and she reasoned that she and Gilchrist may have had an easier time Saturday because of the fact that both Juricova and Susanyi both played singles earlier in the day. Susanyi defeated USC freshman Sabrina Santamaria 6-2, 7-6 (4) and Juricova lost to Stanford's Nicole Gibbs 6-2, 7-5.
“Since neither of us are in singles, we can kind of focus on doubles, and that has showed in our matches,” she said. “Both Nadja and I felt pretty confident today. We know this team is ranked top 15, and they've had some good wins. I didn't think we would get by them this easily we're happy we did. We can rest more and get ready for tomorrow.
“I want to win this for Chelsey,” Gilchrist added.
Two other Georgia-born players stayed alive Saturday as Butts County native Mallory Burdette of Stanford defeated Duke's Capra 6-0, 6-3 and then later teamed with Courtney Gibbs to take out Pepperdine's Lorraine Guillermo and Khunpak Issara 6-1, 6-2 to reach the semis.
They’ll square off at 4 p.m. Sunday against Tennessee’s Natalie Pluskota (Newnan/Northgathe High) and Kata Szekely, who eliminated Florida's Lauren Embree and Joanna Mather (Duluth) 7-6 (3), 7-6 (2).
