By Sean Montgomery, Sports Information Student Assistant

MILLEDGEVILLE, Ga. – The No. 13 Georgia College women's tennis team (1-3, 0-1 PBC) opened up Peach Belt Conference (PBC) play Sunday, hosting No. 31 Flagler College (4-1, 2-0 PBC) at the Centennial Center Tennis Facility.

Trailing 3-0 after doubles action, the Bobcat women could not overcome the large deficit. Georgia College was victorious in just two of the nine matches and fell to the Saints by an overall team score of 7-2. 

Camille Clausse-Pujo (Bordeaux, France) and teammate Kristen Jones (Marietta) kicked off the action for the Bobcats in first-slot doubles. The pair could not shake off a rough start and were defeated by Kelly Burge and Mary Jo Nanti, 8-3. Sisters Macy Polk (Powder Springs) and Cristalei Polk (Powder Springs) tried to answer in the third-slot with a victory for Georgia College, however they fell short by a score of 8-3 against Laura Kelly and Kelly Stewart.

With the deficit already at 2-0, the second-slot duo of Jena Kelly (Lawrenceville) and Katie Krupp (Evans) battled to salvage a lone doubles win for the Bobcats. Kelly and Krupp battled hard, becoming locked in an 8-8 draw with Thasia Pereira and Lizanne Jinkertz. After a lot of back and forth action and many match ties, the Bobcat partners eventually dropped the contest, 9-8.

Kelly started singles off on the right foot, picking up the first victory of the day for the Georgia College team. Kelly, in fourth-slot singles quickly dispatched of Pereira by scores of 6-0 and 6-3. Jones then added to the Bobcat win column with a 6-3, 7-5 performance over Nanti in the second slot. The Jones victory pushed the team score to 3-2 and breathed life back into the Georgia College team.

The comeback stalled however, as the Bobcat women fell in the next four matches.

Clausse-Pujo hung tough with Flagler's Stewart in the first-slot, forcing tie-breaks in each of the two sets. But the sophomore could not close Stewart out and would lose the close contests, 7-5, and 7-6. 

Third-slotted Macy Polk, Fifth-slotted Cristalei Polk and sixth-slotted Hannah Serdinia (Suwanee) would also fall in their respective matches. Macy Polk was defeated 6-1, 7-6 by Jinkertz, Cristalei Polk dropped straight sets to Burge, 7-6, 6-4 and Serdinia lost the contest to Laura Kelly, 6-3, 6-2. 

The Bobcat women's tennis team will be back in action Saturday, Feb. 20 as they host PBC-foe University of Montevallo at the Centennial Center Tennis Facility. First serve is set for noon. 

The Georgia College Department of Athletics, two-time winners of the PBC Commissioner's Cup, sponsors 11 varsity athletic programs at the NCAA Division II level. As a Division II program, Bobcat Athletics prides itself on balancing the life of the student-athlete, evidenced by the teams' multiple appearances in post-season competition as well as documented academic success and community-service involvement. Sign up at @GCBobcats on social media for up-to-the-minute reports, and visit GCBobcats.PhotoReflect.com to purchase photo prints from home athletic contests###