No. 3 Georgia Defeats Lady Eagles In NCAA Tennis First Round

May 10, 2002         

Athens, GA–Winthrop’s Lady Eagle tennis season came to a close Friday afternoon as they fell to No. 2 seed and nationally third-ranked Georgia 4-0 at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex.

For the Big South Conference champion Lady Eagles, , who finished the season with a 18-5 record, this year’s NCAA appearance year marked the second for the program in the past three seasons. The outcome, however, was exactly the same as in 2000 when Winthrop fell to top-ranked Duke.

Winthrop, which entered a lineup of two seniors, a sophomore and four freshmen, were outmatched on the talent scale by a Georgia team that entered post-season play with a 22-1 record.

"We played a great Georgia team and this will be a good learning experience for our young team as they return next year," said Winthrop head coach Cid Carvalho. "What this team did this year with four freshmen and a sophomore in our top eight players was a great accomplishment. Our players now know what it will take to get better and what we need to do in order to compete against teams like Georgia. They just overpowered us at every position. Hopefully we will go back to work next fall and practice on the things that will help us get better and maybe get a higher ranking next year and then perhaps we won’t have to play a one or two seed in the NCAA tournament."

Winthrop began the match by dropping the doubles point by losing at its No. 1 (Judit Trunkos and Renata Caceres) and No. 3 (Renata Barreto and Jacki Deason) positions, 8-0 and 8-1 respectively. The No. 2 doubles match did not finish as the duo of freshmen Jenny Andrade and Ana Simanca were trailing 5-3 when the doubles play was called.

Following a 45-minute delay because of lightning in the area, the Bulldogs made rather quick work of the singles matches by taking victories at the No. 2, No. 4 and No. 5 positions. Georgia’s Mariel Verban, the 37^th ranked player in the nation, defeated Barreto 6-1, 6-0 at No. 2 while Lori Grey outlasted Caceres 6-0, 6-3 at No. 4 and Simanca dropped the No. 5 singles set to Tina Hojnik in straight sets. Winthrop’s matches at No. 1 with Trunkos, No. 3 with Andrade and No. 6 with Natasha Lucki were not completed.

For Trunkos, a native of Budapest, Hungary, and Deason of Aiken, SC, their careers come to a close after winning three Big South Conference titles in their four years and earning two trips to the NCAA. Trunkos, who plans on entering law school following graduation next December, says her Winthrop experience is something she will always treasure.

"This has been a very special opportunity for me to study and play tennis. That is why I came to Winthrop," said the Lady Eagle senior. "Being here twice and being on the first two Winthrop teams to make it to the NCAA’s makes me very proud, and I really do believe that these freshmen are going to do very well in the future."

No. 1--Agata Cioroch and Lori Grey (UGA) def. Judit Trunkos and Renta Caceres (WU)–8-0

No. 2–Tina Hojnik and Mariel Verban (UGA) vs. Jenny Andrade and Ana Simanca (WU)–DNF

No. 3–Anne Nguyen and Alex Smith (UGA) def. Renata Barreto and Jacki Deason (WU)–8-1

No. 1–Cioroch (UGA) vs. Trunkos (WU)–DNF

No. 2–Verban (UGA) def. Barreto (WU)–6-1, 6-0

No. 3–Nguyen (UGA) vs. Andrade (WU)–DNF

No. 4–Grey (UGA) def. Caceres (WU)–6-0, 6-3

No. 5–Hojnik (UGA) def. Simanca (WU)–6-0, 6-0

No. 6–Smith (UGA) vs. Lucki (WU)–DNF