The Georgia Gwinnett College women's tennis team began the 2022 NAIA National Championship tournament with a convincing 4-0 victory against No. 17 seed University of Saint Katherine (California) on Wednesday afternoon at the Mobile (Alabama) Tennis Center.
The Grizzlies (14-0), the tournament's No. 1 seed, quickly grabbed momentum of the match with victories on the No. 2 and No. 3 doubles courts for a 1-0 advantage. GGC won 12 of the 13 doubles games with the sophomores tandem of
Iryna Lysykh and
Selina Pichler registering a 6-0 victory at No. 2 doubles.
Sophomores
Ale Ferrer and
Liza Velykorodna picked up a 6-1 triumph in the other doubles match.
The strong play continued into singles with Ferrer winning all 12 games on the No. 3 court before Pichler won by identical 6-1 set scores for the team's third point of the match.
Sophomore
Stephanie Fernandez clinched GGC's victory and advancement to the quarterfinal round of the national championships behind a 6-0, 6-2 win at No. 6 singles.
"It was a very good start by our players, and they spent very little time playing in hot (weather) conditions on the courts today. We feel good about our position heading into Thursday's quarterfinal match," said Head Coach
Chase Hodges.
Georgia Gwinnett College is scheduled to face No. 9 seed Lindsey Wilson College (Kentucky) in the quarterfinals of the 2022 NAIA National Championships on Thursday, May 19, from the Mobile Tennis Center, starting at 1 p.m. central time.
