I have to apologize to the ladies for the delay in getting the weekend roundup out for them. When I started this I had no idea the amount of time it was going to consume (praise Bobby for all he does and has done in the past) on top of the time I am putting into the CollegeTennisRanks.com site. I also didnt want to short change the coverage so it took a little extra time to get it together. Ill have to keep up as the weekend progresses moving forward to keep up. Anyhow, on to the deets
South Carolina continued its dominance in the SEC winning at Auburn and Alabama and moving to 8-0 in conference play with 6 of those victories on the road. With the Gamecocks final five SEC matches all at home they completed the first perfect SEC road season in program history. It also happened to be Head Coach Kevin Epleys 100th win as South Carolina.
While South Carolina remained unbeaten in conference play, Alabama, Missouri and Tennessee remained winless, each at 0-7. What are the odds of that? They have to play each other sometime right? That just goes to show how strong the SEC is as Tennessee entered the week ranked 37 and has yet to come away with an SEC win.
It would appear that its down to a three team race between South Carolina, Florida and Vanderbilt for the regular season crown and none of those teams have played each other in conference play yet.
Alabama
The Crimson Tide had a tough draw this weekend facing Florida Thursday and South Carolina Saturday. They dropped those two matches 4-0 and 4-1, respectively. Alabama has now lost 9 of its last 10 matches with the only win being a non-conference gimme against UT Martin. The match with Florida Thursday was never in question as the Gators grabbed a couple of quick 6-1 doubles wins and then rolled the Tide in straight sets on courts 1, 4 and 6 and Alabama was unable to capture a single set. However, despite the 4-1 loss Saturday to conference leading South Carolina, Alabama was much more competitive. South Carolina easily captured the doubles point and a quick win on court 2 but Alabama cut the deficit to 2-1 when Andie Daniell took down #52 Ingrid Gamarra Martins 6-2, 6-3 on court 1. South Carolina pushed the lead to 3-1 with a win on court 3 but the remaining three matches were all going 3 sets. South Carolina managed to close it out 6-3 on court 6 but Alabama was leading on the other two courts.
Arkansas
The Razorbacks dropped a 4-1 decision to #11 Ole Miss Friday in a match that was closer than the score indicated. Ole Miss clinched the match with a tightly contested 7-5, 6-4 match on court 5 which came at a good time as Arkansas held leads on the remaining two courts. The Hogs kept that competitive spirit going Sunday for what they knew was going to be a competitive match right from the get go with Mississippi State. Not only did the match end up being extremely competitive but it was a marathon that lasted more than 5 hours including a one hour rain delay. The Hogs dropped the doubles point and took 3 of the first 5 singles results to level the match at 3 and were leading 4-1 in the 3rd in the final match but Arawaka was unable to hold on and she succumbed 6-4 in the 3rd as Arkansas dropped a heartbreaking 4-3 decision.
Auburn
The #15 Tigers dropped a pair of 4-1 decisions this weekend to South Carolina and Florida dropping them to 4-3 in conference play. Thursdays bright spot for Auburn was freshman Jaeda Daniel who picked up the lone Tiger point in a 6-3, 6-2 win over #31 Hadley Berg for her fourth straight victory. Auburn had to battle Florida on Saturday without their #1 and #3 players which is never a good sign when you have a top 20 team coming to town and it proved to be too much. Taylor Russo managed to pick up a win on court 3 but Florida put away the doubles point three straight set wins on courts 1, 4 and 6 to seal the deal.
Florida
Somebody forgot to tell Florida they only have six ladies, one of whom came into the year having not played in the lineup for a few years. The Gators picked up 4-0 and 4-1 wins over Alabama and #15 Auburn, respectively. The wins moved the Gators to 7-1 in conference play and still right in the thick of the battle for the regular season title with South Carolina and Vanderbilt. The Gators handled Alabama fairly easily but things figured to be tougher on the road at Auburn on Saturday. However, Florida was the beneficiary of a short-handed Auburn team as they were missing their 1 and 3 players and just couldnt overcome it.
Georgia
Georgia went into Kentucky on Friday and dismantled the #20 Wildcats. Georgia took the doubles point and all six first sets on way to closing it out 4-0 after finishing off courts 1, 4 and 6 in straight sets. As dominating as the Lady Bulldogs were to start things at Kentucky, it was just the opposite Sunday at Vanderbilt. Georgia dropped the doubles point and 5 of 6 first sets to the Commodores. However, the match was far from over and it was 3-1 Vanderbilt with 3 close matches remaining. Unfortunately for Georgia, Vandy was able to close it out with Georgia tied 4-4 in the 3rd on one of the remaining matches and leading 5-3 in the 2nd on the other.
Kentucky
The Wildcats dropped a 4-0 decision to Georgia on Friday in a match that was never in doubt. Kentucky was unable to take a single set in this one and just did not look ready to compete at Georgias level. The Wildcats needed to find something different and bringing in an SEC winless Tennessee was just what the doctor ordered. Kentucky downed the Vols 4-1 after dropping the doubles point behind victories on courts 1, 2, 3 and 4 with two of those victories coming in 3 sets.
LSU
LSU only had one match this weekend in a road tilt at Texas A&M. The Tigers dropped the doubles point and a quick 0&0 match on court 6 and dig a 0-2 hole. Luba Vasilyuk answered for LSU on court 5 with a 6-2, 6-3 win to cut the deficit to 2-1. Texas A&M then managed to win the top two spots in straight sets to close it out 4-1 while the remaining two matches were both in 3rd sets and could have made things very interesting with LSU leading one of them and tied in the other. LSU drops to 3-4 in the SEC.
Mississippi State
How can we begin this without mentioning the extremely crazy run Anastasia Rentouli is on. Coming in the weekend she had clinched the Bulldogs last 3 matches, all in 3rd sets. Play was forced indoors due to weather and the Bulldogs dropped the doubles point. With only 4 indoor courts, Rentouli played the longest match of the top 4 and with the team and Rentouli managing to win all four matches, Rentouli nabbed her 4th consecutive 3 set clinch. Fast forward to Sunday at Arkansas. This time the Bulldogs grabbed the doubles point and 4 first sets and looked to be on their way. Khrystyna Vozniak posted a 6-0, 0-6, 6-1 win to be the first singles match off and the Bullodogs led 2-0. The two matches that they dropped the first set in both finished in straight set losses and it was suddenly 2-2 and the Bulldogs dropped the second set on the three remaining courts. However, Madison Harrison would post a nice upset win over #55 Giulia Pairone at the #1 spot to give the Bulldogs a 3-2 lead. Sara Lizariturry would drop a tough 3 setter on 5 to even things at 3-3 and that left guess who, Anastasia Rentouli, on court. Rentouli dug a 1-4 hole in the 3rd and just when it looked like her streak was coming to an end she ripped off 5 consecutive games to win the match 6-4 in the 3rd and give the Bulldogs a big 4-3 win.
Missouri
Missouri remained winless at 0-7 in the SEC after dropping 4-1 decisions to Mississippi State and Ole Miss. The Tigers managed to pick up the doubles point against Mississippi State and then with only four matches going on since the match was indoors it was looking like it could be a long day. Mississippi State won all four first sets but Missouri rallied to split sets on all four courts. However, the Bulldogs rallied back to take the 3rd set on all four courts to close the match out 4-1. The match was definitely much closer than the score indicated. Sunday brought about another school from Mississippi and anoth 4-1 loss. This one was not quite as close as Fridays match but freshman Taylor Gruber did manage to post a singles win for the Tigers at the #3 position with a nice come from behind win after dropping the first set 6-1.
Ole Miss
The Rebels posted a pair of 4-1 wins over Arkansas and Missouri to level their conference record at 4-4. On Friday the Rebels played indoors at Arkansas and jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead that made things a little comfortable even though they dropped a match at 4 before Anna Vrbenska clinched the victory at 5 with a 7-5, 6-4 win. With poor weather Sundays match at Missouri was again moved indoors and the Rebels again jumped out to a 3-0 lead with singles wins from Sabina Machalova and Tea Jandric. As they did Friday, Ole Miss dropped the next point to make it 3-1 but Arianne Hartono ended things with a 3rd set tiebreak victory over Mizzous Serena Nash.
South Carolina
The Lady Gamecocks took an Alabama road trip and came away with 4-1 wins at both Auburn and Alabama. The swing concluded the road season for South Carolina which means they get their top competition of Florida and Vanderbilt at home as they have yet to play their conference tilts with those schools yet this year. In taking Auburn down on Thursday the Gamecocks took the doubles point and straight set wins on 1, 3 and 4 with the only loss coming from Hadley Berg on court 2. On Saturday the ladies posted their 11th straight win in moving to 8-0 in conference play and concluded a perfect SEC road season. South Carolina again captured the doubles point moving to 7-1 in SEC doubles play. Hadley Berg got back to her winning ways with quick 6-2, 6-3 win on court 2. On the top court Ingrid Gamarra Martins dropped her match 6-2, 6-3 to Bamas Andie Daniell snapping a seven match winning streak and taking her first SEC loss. Mia Horvit then made it 3-1 South Carolina but things were a little worrisome as the remaining three matches were all in 3rd sets. With Alabama leading on courts 4 and 5 Rachel Rohrabacher sealed the deal on 6 with a 6-3 3rd set and avoid the big upset.
Tennessee
Tennessee came into the week ranked 37th but without an SEC win. Unfortunately for the Vols the ranking will change but the number of SEC wins didnt as they dropped a pair of matches to Vanderbilt and Kentucky. On Friday Tennessee fell victim to Vanderbilt 4-0 with quick straight set losses on courts 1, 2 and 6. On Sunday the Vols got off to a better start as they took the doubles point and set the stage for a possible upset against #20 Kentucky. Tennessee took the first set on courts 4, 5, and 6 and things were looking good for an upset. Unfortunately Kentucky took the top 3 courts and on court 4 where Tennessee had taken the first set, Kentucky came back to win 6-3 in the 3rd and hand the Vols their 7th straight conference loss.
Texas A&M
The Aggies had a non-conference match on Wednesday against Lamar followed by a Friday matchup with LSU. The Lamar match was a 7-0 decision as expected allowing the Aggies to focus on a key match with LSU as both teams stood at 3-3 in the SEC. The Aggies struck first with the doubles point and a dominant 6-0, 6-0 win by Dorthea Faa-Hviding on court 6 for a 2-0 lead. LSU got a point on 5 but A&M answered with straight set wins on courts 1 and 2 to clinch the match 4-1. The win for Macarena Olivares was her first ranked win of the year as she knocked off Jessica Golovin who had previously only lost one match this spring.
Vanderbilt
Vanderbilt kept pace with Florida and remained a game back of South Carolina with a couple of wins over Tennessee and Georgia. The win over Tennessee was expected but the match against Georgia looked to be one of the marquee matchups of the weekend. The Commodores claimed the doubles point and the teams split a pair of singles matches to make it 2-1 Vandy. The next match to finish was a much anticipated matchup between Vandys #14 Astra Sharma and Georgias #6 Katarina Jokic. It was Sharma who came out on top 6-4, 6-3 and Vandy led 3-1. Christina Rosca clinched the 4-1 match for the Dores as she defeated 2017 All-American Elena Christofi 7-5, 6-4.
These new rankings are crazy. In what other college sport are the rankings and way the NCAA field selected completely transparent? There's no dumb committees or secret formulas in college tennis! Players an coaches of all teams know what they have to do!