UGA Sports: A Busy and Successful Bulldog Saturday

On the last Saturday in January, it sure did seem more like the first day of spring in Athens.

It wasn’t because the weather was April-like. It wasn’t because the azaleas were popping. Spring may not yet be in the air or showing up on the calendar for nearly two months, but around Georgia’s athletic facilities, Saturday seemed like an action-packed spring sports day. And a very successful one.

The women’s golf team was scheduled to tee off at 8:30 in the morning at the UGA Golf Course, in the Lady Bulldog Invitational, the team’s first event of 2023. Arriving at a semi-frozen course after Friday night’s cold temperatures, the seven teams in the one-day, 36-hole event had their shotgun start delayed 90 minutes due to frost.

By the time the players hit their first drives, the sun was out and the temperature was approaching the high 40s. A couple of hours later, as the golfers wrapped up their first nine holes of the day, conditions were close to perfect: a temperature around 55, little-to-no wind, receptive greens, and near-silence all around. For long stretches, the only sound to be heard was the occasional thwack of club meeting ball.

Georgia was using the event as the final two rounds of team qualifying for the upcoming Collegiate Invitational in Guadalajara, Mexico, so the Bulldogs weren’t just trying to play well to win Saturday. They were also playing for a spot in the lineup at Guadalajara Country Club next weekend.

After starting on hole No. 3, Céleste Dao reeled off seven straight pars before heading to No. 10. There, she made birdie on the par-4. She made birdie on No. 11, another par-4, followed by a third straight birdie on No. 12, a par-5. Two pars followed, and then on the par-4 15th, she added another birdie to get to 4-under for the round.

Dao’s second round hit a rough patch early, with a bogey and a double on the first two holes. By that point, teammate Jo Hua Hung, who shot 1-under in the first round, had moved to 2-under for the day and was atop the leaderboard. Isabella Holpfer had also made a move, birdieing the first three holes of her second round.

At the end of a long day on the course, those three occupied the top three spots on the leaderboard. Hung shot a 2-under 71-71 to earn the win, Dao shot 70-77 to place second and Holpfer finished third after shooting 73-75.

An hour after women’s golf’s delayed started, the Georgia men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams started their final dual meet of their regular seasons at Gabrielsen Natatorium against Emory. Before the first competitive lap was completed, Georgia recognized 20 members of the teams’ senior classes.

The Georgia men and women dominated the meet, winning nearly every race, placing first and second in many, and taking the top three spots often, as well. Numerous swimmers honored the memory of football player Devin Willock and football recruiting staff member Chandler LeCroy, who died in a car accident on Jan. 15, by having Willock’s jersey number, “77,” and “CL” written on their upper bodies.

In the 200-yard freestyle, senior Zoie Hartman raced her way to a narrow win, touching the wall in 1:48.02, just ahead of teammates Rachel Steve (1:48.20) and Jillian Barczyk (1:48.31). In the men’s 200 free, redshirt junior Bradley Dunham raced out to the lead and cruised to the victory with a time of 1:34.18, followed by teammate Ananda Lim (1:38.13) in second and Ian Grum (1:38.45) in fourth.

In the last swimming races of the day, Julianna Stephens, Sloane Reinstein, Hartman and Eboni McCarty combined to win the 200 freestyle relay, wrapping up a 172-105 victory for the women’s team. On the men’s side, Dillon Downing, Zach Hills, Dunham and Charlie Logan teamed up to win the 200 free relay and clinch a 175-94 victory.

Hartman ended her day with three wins (two individual, one relay) and Dunham won four (two individual, two relay). Up next for Georgia’s men and women are the SEC Swimming & Diving Championships, starting Feb. 14 at Texas A&M.

While women’s golf and women’s tennis, which took the court in the ITA Kickoff Weekend on Saturday afternoon, had to deal with some chilly conditions, that wasn’t an issue in the pool or for the hundreds of fans at the swim meet. Nor was the cold a problem Saturday night inside a spirited Stegeman Coliseum, where the men’s basketball team was hosting South Carolina.

The women’s tennis team, playing Notre Dame for a spot in the ITA National Indoors, avoided the cool morning conditions that women’s golf faced, Still, it was the Irish that got off to the fast start and secured the doubles point. Georgia needed to win four of the six singles match to advance, and it did just that. The Bulldogs won the first set in five of the six matches and then got four straight wins.

Mell Reasco, playing at No. 3 against Yashna Yellayi, picked up the first victory, 6-3, 6-2. At 40-all in the deciding game, on Reasco’s third match point, the players went back and forth during a long rally with both players eventually ending up at the net, where Yellayi missed a backhand to give Reasco the win.

Ania Hertel cruised to a 6-3, 6-1 win over Bojana Pozder at No. 5 singles, and Meg Kowalski, playing her 75th season of Georgia tennis (or so it seems for the super senior), won a streaky match at No. 4. Facing Nibedita Ghosh, Kowalski won the first set 6-0, lost the first three games of the second, then won six straight for a  6-0, 6-3 win — the 87th singles victory of her exceptional career. Her backhand winner up the line finished off the match and put the Bulldogs ahead 3-1, needing just one more victory for the team win.

Georgia’s big and big-hitting sophomore Dasha Vidmanova, who stands 6-foot-3, provided the clinching win at No. 2 singles. Facing Julia Andreach, the two were tied 5-5 in the first set when Vidmanova captured the next two games to take the set. In the second, she got a break of serve early and closed out a 7-5, 6-2 win.

The final home action of the day was inside a packed and warm Stegeman Coliseum, where the men’s basketball team took on South Carolina. After trailing by two, 37-35, at the half, Georgia saw the Gamecocks surge to a 52-40 lead with 13:05 remaining.

Powered by its defense, Georgia clawed its way back and the game went to overtime tied 73-73. In the extra period, Kario  Oquendo scored all eight of the Bulldogs’ points — one field goal and six free throws — in an 81-78 win. The difference late in the second half and overtime was that defense, which had two steals at halftime and finished the game with 15.

And so ended a very busy Bulldog day in Athens. It was the beginning of the end for the swim teams’ seasons, a key SEC mid-season matchup for men’s basketball, and just the beginning for women’s golf and tennis. It was the first of many busy, busy weekends to come for the Bulldogs and all of us who follow every shot, swing, stroke, sprint and serve — or as many as we can get to in one day.