COLUMBUS, Ga. – The Georgia College Women's Tennis team (11-4, 1-2 PBC) took on their highest-ranked opponent thus far in No. 8 Columbus State University (11-4, 3-0 PBC), falling 6-1 on the road Saturday.
CSU swept doubles play to start with a 1-0 lead. In the first slot, Emilia Richter (Berlin, Germany) and Emma Fleming (Suwanee) fell to the nation's No. 44 pairing in Valentina Abrile and Mariana Ramirez 6-3.
GC's second-doubles pair of Jordan Bowie (Macon) and Ashton Morrison (Cumming) were shut out by Neila Trklja and Agostina Bigotti. Third doubles, saw the closest battle, as Chiara Santoro (Santa Ursula, Spain) and Sofia Shing (Auckland, New Zealand) were edged 7-6 by the national No. 47 duo of Yelena Labat and Sara Ramirez.
Morrison provided the team's point in the sixth singles slot, taking down Bigotti with a pair of 6-3 sets. Morrison is now 6-1 in singles this season.
National No. 69 Shing gave No. 11 Trklia a battle in the first slot, taking the first set 7-5 before falling 6-2 and 10-7. No. 49 Richter lost another ranked battle to No. 73 Mariana Ramirez in a pair of 6-1 sets at second singles. Third singles was a 6-1, 7-5 defeat for Fleming to Abrile, snapping the former's seven-match win streak.
Fourth singles was a three-setter for Santoro and CSU's Labat. The Bobcats got the first set 7-6[6], then Labat rebounded with 6-2 and 10-8 sets. In fifth singles, Shradha Chhabra (New Delhi, India) came up short 6-3, 6-4 against Luciana Galves.
The Bobcats are back in action Thursday, March 31 at 2 p.m., playing host to No. 39 Augusta University.
The proud recipients of the 2021 PBC Sportsmanship Institution of the Year, the Georgia College Department of Athletics sponsors 11 varsity athletic programs at the NCAA Division II level. GC Athletics is now two-time winners of both the PBC Commissioner's Cup and the league's sportsmanship honor. As a Division II program, Bobcat Athletics prides itself on balancing the life of the student-athlete, evidenced by the teams' continued appearances in post-season competition as well as high-level academic success and community-service involvement. Bobcat Athletics holds to the mantra of "Graduating Champions for Life". Sign up at @GCBobcats on all social media outlets for up-to-the-minute reports.
