Spring Break
Women's tennis takes crown
Women clinch SEC win
JASON BUTT
Issue date: 4/21/08 Section: Sports
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Sophomore Naoko Ueshima, whose nickname, Nao, is pronounced "now," clinched the SEC Championship for the Georgia women's tennis team (20-4) over rival Florida (20-2) on Sunday.
With the score deadlocked at 3-3, Ueshima pulled off a three-setter over Marrit Boonstra 6-4, 6-7 (3-7), 6-4.
At the end of the match, Ueshima immediately took off her shoes and socks and cringed in pain.
"My feet are very sore, but it's worth it for sure," she said.
By no means did Ueshima take the easy route. In the second set, she fell down 5-2, only to come back and move up 6-5. Ueshima then lost the next game and proceeded to lose the tiebreaker 7-3.
In the third set, Ueshima moved up 3-1 before Boonstra reeled off three straight games to go ahead 4-3. While both players were resting after Boonstra moved ahead, head coach Jeff Wallace came over to talk to Ueshima.
"He asked me, 'Are you enjoying it?'" Ueshima said. "I knew I was under pressure and I had played defensive in the second set. I started thinking what I wouldn't want my opponent to do in this situation and that was to become more aggressive, so that's what I did."
Ueshima won the next three games to give Georgia its second straight SEC championship. The loss for Florida was its first SEC loss of the year.
"It was an unbelievable effort from this team," Wallace said. "Every player on this team deserves this, it was a total team effort, and that's what we've been about all year."
Senior Kelley Hyndman, who had lost nine straight matches in the middle of the regular season, earned SEC Tournament MVP after winning all three of her matches in the tournament.
"It's unbelievable after this whole year, with how I've been struggling," Hyndman said. "To come down here and win three matches and play a big part in winning this championship means a lot."
Florida jumped out to a 1-0 lead after clinching the doubles point. Georgia moved ahead 3-2 after Yvette Hyndman, Monika Dancevic and Kelley Hyndman collected wins while Florida's Lolita Frangulyan beat Adrienne Elsberry 6-1, 6-2. Freshman Cameron Ellis lost to Anastasia Revzina 2-6, 7-6 (8-6), 6-3, which tied the score at 3-3.
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