Bobcat women survive PBC tennis battle

Published 12:21 pm Thursday, March 27, 2025

Georgia College & State University women’s tennis has reached its midpoint in terms of Peach Belt Conference competition, but it’s hard to say that the best is yet to come considering the results already turned in by the Lady Bobcats.

What’s coming up, however, are two top 10 ITA ranked clubs and one more sitting at No. 31. At 11-2 overall, GCSU is No. 48 and fresh off Tuesday’s 5-2 team win against Peach Belt rival Lander University at home.

Head coach Steve Barsby, with two decades at the helm, knows his team is playing well in 2025 as evidence by a pair of early 4-3 decisions, one that went for and one that went against the Lady Bobcats.  Barsby knows that not only are Peach Belt matches important, but also those in their NCAA Division II Southeast Region. That had one of those to start the spring season facing Newberry at home Feb. 4, but that one went against them by the lone point.

On March 13, the home courts staged some real drama when GCSU hosted Augusta, which at the time was in the national rankings. It came down to the last singles match with a 3-3 tie, and it happened to go a full three sets. Shradha Chhabra, one of three Lady Bobcat seniors, got the win at No. 6 6-4, 5-7, 6-4.

Two other singles matches that day went three sets, GCSU and Augusta splitting those. Rachel Black, a freshman Valdosta, got the home team win 6-1, 5-7, 6-2.

“Right now, the girls are playing well, working hard,” said Barsby. “Was a little worried about (Tuesday vs. Lander) coming off Spring Break. They had a few days off. The win today was pretty nice.”

And competitive with some hard-hitting rallies. Six players took the court for three doubles and then six singles matches, and doubles play started the day with one team point on the line. That goes to the first school to win two of the three doubles that go one set each.

Black paired with senior Chiara Santoro of Spain to win 6-1 while Chhabra and sophomore Ashley Bentz won 6-4.

With the 1-0 team lead, Georgia College found Lander to be formidable in the singles round giving spectators wonder if the Lady Bobcats could indeed squeeze out three wins. Black, at No. 4, would be the first one to finish with a two-set sweep of Bailee Martin 6-2, 6-0.

And with a 2-0 lead, the remaining matches on the courts had their own drama, again finding leads in at least two matches wasn’t always easy. In four of the six matches, the players split the first two sets.

The unfortunate news for Lander came at No. 5 singles. Ashtyn Cason of the Bearcats won the first set 6-4 over Victoria Conde Vendrell, a junior from Paris who once played at ABAC in Tifton. The second set was knotted at 3-3, but Cason was unable to continue due to a leg injury. GCSU was up 3-0 with just one more win needed.

Lander, though, got the next completed match at No. 2 singles by Evelyn Atlmaier 6-4, 6-1.

But Chhabra, a native of India, cruised in her third set with Hannah Panchal to win 6-3, 4-6, 6-1.

The other singles matches were completed in different manners. Santoro, the No. 1 singles player, and Mille Elsborg did not start their third set before Chhabra’s win ended, so they played a super tiebreaker. Santoro won the second set 6-4 after dropping the first 5-7, then won the tiebreaker 10-6.

No. 3 singles was into its third set, though, and Lander’s Maria Jose Zarza won over Bentz 6-3, 5-7, 6-4.

“Our whole thing we try to work with them on is compete hard on your court,” said Barsby. “And see what happens. Our region, our conference, there are so many good players. If you are not competing, you are going to get beat. We are giving ourselves chances to win.

“Lander’s good. Their team’s gotten a lot better over the past couple of years. Any Peach Belt win’s a pretty good one for us.”

Barsby now wants to focus on the next Southeast region foe Thursday at Erskine in South Carolina. On April 4, the Lady Bobcats play at No. 4 Flagler. On April 12, No. 9 North Georgia come to Milledgeville. The regular season ends at No. 31 Columbus State on April 16.

“We gotta get a little tougher mentally,” said Barsby. “That’s the only thing we struggle with. We get a little down on ourselves in some matches and lose faith. But they are getting better at it. They are realizing they are actually pretty good.”