Dilek Saves Four Match Points in Third Set Tiebreaker to Deliver Georgia’s Second Straight ITA Women’s Division I Team Indoor Championship; Seeds, Matchups for Men’s Indoor First Round Set for Friday; Kennedy Earns First Challenger Victory in Baton Rouge

Georgia freshman Deniz Dilek was up 6-0, 2-0, then down 5-0 and 6-3 in the third set tiebreaker of the deciding match of this year’s ITA Women’s Division I Team Indoor Championships. A whole lot happened in between, but Dilek simply would not concede defeat, with the result a 4-3 victory for defending champion Georgia over a formidable Ohio State team.

When Georgia took the courts this evening at the Combe Tennis Center on the campus of Northwestern University, they looked the part of the favorite, with the No. 2 seeds taking big leads at No. 1 and No. 2 doubles, while Ohio State, playing in their first Team  Indoor final, were up 5-1 at No. 3 doubles. 

Anastasiia Lopata and Patricija Paukstyte of Georgia closed out their match at line 2 6-1, but Dilek and Aysegul Mert had to win a deciding point with Dilek serving at 4-3 to keep their lead, and Mert came from 0-40 down before serving out the doubles point at 5-4. Meanwhile, Georgia’s Anastasiia Gureva and Emma Dong had come all the way back from 5-1 down to even their match with Sophia Cisse-Ignatiev and Audrey Spencer, when Dilek and Mert put the point on the board for the Bulldogs. 

Ohio State had lost the doubles point in their quarterfinal win over North Carolina and their semifinal win over Texas A&M yesterday, so the Buckeyes were hardly daunted, even when Georgia took two quick sets with Dilek and line 3 and Anastasiia Gureva at line 4 charging out of the gates. But Ohio State began working their way back into matches they appeared out of, and when the final two first-sets were completed in tiebreakers, each team had three.  

That meant Ohio State had to win a three-set match, but after trailing Dilek 6-0, 2-0, Sophia Cisse-Ignatiev earned a split. Gureva made it 2-0 Georgia with a 6-2, 6-2 pounding on Nao Nishino at line 4, but the other five singles matches remained too close to call, with all but one on serve. 

Teah Chavez finally got Ohio State on the board with a 7-5, 6-4 win over Aysegul Mert, the hero in Georgia’s 4-3 semifinal win over Auburn, at line 2. Georgia went up 3-1 with Sofia Rojas’s 7-6(3), 6-4 victory over Hephzibah Oluwadare at line 6, but Luciana Perry countered with a 7-6(4), 6-4 win over Lopata at line 1. By that time, the last two matches were in tiebreakers, with Dong of Georgia needing to win a tiebreaker from Audrey Spencer at line 5 to force a third set. She could not, with Spencer saving a set point at 6-7 and closing out a 6-4, 7-6(7) win on her second match point to make it 3-3.

By that time Dilek trailed 5-0 in the tiebreaker, but the 18-year-old from Turkey won the next three points, before Buckeye sophomore Cisse-Ignatiev made it 6-3. Dilek played two solid points on serve to make it 6-5, then hit big with such depth up the middle that Cisse-Ignatiev was forced into an error. Cisse-Ignatiev earned a fourth match point with a first serve return error from Dilek, but hit a forehand wide to make it 7-7. 

Dilek then played a point that will live in Bulldog lore, tracking down a good drop shot from Cisse-Ignatiev and ripping a winner crosscourt to give her team its first championship point. She converted when Cisse-Ignative netted a backhand after a short rally, sending the Bulldogs into a jumping circle of red as they celebrated their third consecutive national title, with the 2025 NCAA championship sandwiched between their two National Indoor titles.

Georgia now has six ITA National Team Indoor titles, but all credit to Ohio State for their stunning performances throughout the tournament that has taken that program to new heights and gave college tennis fans a final to remember.

Georgia[2] d. Ohio State[5] 4-3

Doubles:
1. Deniz Dilek and Aysegul Mert(UGA) d. Hephzibah Oluwadare and Teah Chavez(OSU) 6-4
2. Anastasiia Lopata and Patricija Paukstyte(UGA) d. Luciana Perry and Flora Johnson(OSU) 6-1
3. Sophia Cisse-Ignatiev and Audrey Spencer(OSU) v Anastasiia Gureva and Emma Dong(UGA) 5-5, dnf

Order of finish: 2, 1

Singles:
1. Luciana Perry(OSU) d. Anastasiia Lopata(UGA) 7-6(4), 6-4
2. Teah Chavez(OSU) d. Aysegul Mert(UGA) 7-5, 6-4
3. Deniz Dilek(UGA) d. Sophia Cisse-Ignatiev(OSU) 6-4, 4-6, 7-6(7)
4. Anastasiia Gureva(UGA) d. Nao Nishino(OSU) 6-2, 6-2
5. Audrey Spencer(OSU) d. Emma Dong(UGA) 6-4, 7-6(7)
6. Sofia Rojas(UGA) d. Hephzibah Oluwadare(OSU) 7-6(3), 6-4

Order of finish: 4, 2, 6, 1, 5, 3

The ITA Men’s Division I Team Indoor Championships begin Friday in Texas, with the seeds and the match times announced today. I’ll be at SMU throughout the event, as I was last year.

After losing to eventual finalist Borna Gojo(Wake Forest) of Croatia 6-0, 6-0 in the first round last week in Cleveland in his Challenger main draw debut, University of Virginia signee Jack Kennedy picked up his first Challenger victory today, beating Antoine Ghibaudo(Kentucky) of France 6-4, 6-4.

In a Wednesday first round match in Sunrise, wild card Gavin Goode and Andy Johnson will play for the fourth time, with Johnson holding a 2-1 edge in their head-to-head on the ITF Junior Circuit.