Peach Belt 20 in 20 – Game #7: NCAA Women’s Tennis Regional: Francis Marion vs. Columbus State, May 5, 2009
In a sport dominated by one institution it can be easy to overlook the fact that superlative competition is occurring in many different places all over the conference. Such is the case with women’s tennis. While Armstrong Atlantic State was marching towards another national championship in 2009, Francis Marion and Columbus State played a classic in the NCAA Regional that is the 7th greatest game in PBC history.
In 2009, Francis Marion and Columbus State joined Clayton State in the hunt for the #2 spot in the PBC. The three teams all finished within two games of one another and played no-holds-barred matches during the regular season. Case in point: Columbus State beat Francis Marion 5-4 in Florence during the regular season, a match that came down to the #3 singles where CSU’s Hanane Toumi beat FMU’s Jitka Gavdunova 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7-4). It was Gavdunova’s only loss during the regular season.
|
| FMU's Jitka Gavdunova won the decisive point of the match at #3 singles. |
The two teams met again in the semifinals of the PBC Championship and the Patriots had their revenge 5-3 over CSU. Gavdunova swept Toumi 6-1, 6-4 in that one. So when the two faced off yet again in the finals of the NCAA sub-regional, with a trip to Florida and the Sweet 16 on the line, nobody was surprised it went down to the #3 singles match and Gavdunova vs. Houmi, part 3.
It began in doubles where Francis Marion took a quick 1-0 lead when the 13th-ranked doubles team of Tereza Sykorova and Sabina Baberadova won 8-0 at the No.2 spot over the nation’s 19th-ranked doubles team. That advantage grew to 2-0 when the sixth-ranked duo of Gavdunova and Kristyna Horakova outlasted the 11th-ranked pair of Eva Petschnig and Lindsey Groenewald 8-6 at the No.1 position.
At the third doubles spot, FMU’s Valeska Ibscher and Saskia Ludwig trailed 5-3 to CSU’s Erin Reynolds and Daniela Castillo, but rallied to take an 8-7 lead. Reynolds and Castillo fought off four match points and eventually gained the Cougars first point with a 9-8 win (9-7 in the tiebreaker).
“I really felt like that was a turning point,” recalls FMU head coach Garth Thompson.
|
| The Columbus State doubles team of Evan Petschnig (on left) and Lindsey Groenwald at the 2009 NCAA Regionals. |
“Reynolds and Castillo just played so hard to fight off those match points. If we had won that and swept doubles, I think it would have taken control, but we didn’t. It gave them some life.”
From there it was on to singles as both teams traded a pair of fairly easy wins – FMU winning in straight sets at No.5 and No.2 and CSU winning in straight sets at No.4 and No.1 – to give FMU a 4-3 match lead.
|
| Francis Marion's Kristyna Horakova playing at
#1 doubles in the 09 regional. |
Columbus State’s Reynolds then claimed a 6-4, 7-5 win over Ludwig at No.6 singles to even the match at 4-4.
All eyes then turned, once again, to the No.3 singles match between the 29th-ranked Gavdunova and 37th-ranked Toumi. Toumi won the opening set 6-4, but Gavdunova held off a late rally by Toumi to win the second set 6-4. Both players held serve until Gavdunova broke Toumi in the sixth game and she went on to win the final four games to capture the decisive third set 6-2. The match took over two hours on a hot and windy afternoon.
“It was a test of wills,” said Thompson. “Toumi was up a break in the second set and had the match in control, but Gavdunova just began chipping away, piece by piece. I remember when she won the set point in the second, we were all jumping up and down for joy. Both players were tired, they’d been out there for hours, it just came down to who had the willpower to see it through.”
Francis Marion went on to the sweet 16 where they fell to #1 BYU-Hawaii in the national quarterfinals. The Patriots finished the year 20-5, their third 20-win season in a four-year span.
“What has stayed with me most from that match is really the sportsmanship on both sides,” said Thompson. “In a situation where everything is on the line and the players are giving it their all, anything can happen. But we let the players play, which at the end of the day is all you want to do. It was a lot of stress, but a lot of fun at the end. Its one of those where either team could have won and both teams deserved to.”