Feb. 8, 2008

No. 14 Tar Heels Shock No. 2 UCLA, 4-3

MADISON, Wis. - Junior Meg Fanjoy rallied from a 4-1 deficit in the opening set to beat Stephanie Wetmore at No. 6 singles and give No. 14 North Carolina a 4-3 win over No. 2 UCLA Thursday at the University of Wisconsin's Nielsen Tennis Stadium. The victory matches the 2006 win over No. 2 Florida as the best in school history in terms of opponent ranking. Sophomore Sanaz Marand and freshman Jelena Durisic also scored singles wins for the Tar Heels, who will face the winner of Arkansas and No. 8 Southern Cal.

UNC (5-1) opened the match by claiming victories at No. 2 and No. 3 doubles to take an early 1-0 lead. No. 16 Riza Zalameda and Yasmin Schnack knocked off No. 8 Marand and Sophie Grabinski at the top position, but from there the Tar Heels held the upper hand. Junior Laura Reichert and sophomore Katrina Tsang defeated Alex McGoodwin and Ashley Joelson, 8-4, at No. 2, while Fanjoy and fellow junior Austin Smith took care of Wetmore and Elizabeth Lumpkin at No. 3, securing the point for Carolina.

The doubles point would prove to be the difference, as the two nationally-ranked squads split the six singles matches. UCLA (3-1) quickly evened the score with a 6-2, 6-0 win by Lumpkin over Reichert at No. 5. Marand, the No. 14 singles player in the country, helped put UNC back in front with a 6-4, 6-2 win over No. 41 Tracy Lin at No. 2.

No. 4 Georgia Tech Tennis Cruises Past Wisconsin it ITA National Indoor Opener

MADISON, Wis. - Fourth-ranked Georgia Tech captured a pair of 8-3 doubles wins and No. 3 Amanda McDowell notched a 6-0, 6-1 singles victory as the Yellow Jackets (3-1) cruised to a 4-0 win over No. 75 Wisconsin (2-1) Thursday in the first round of the ITA National Team Indoor Championships, which are being contested at Nielsen Stadium on the campus of the University of Wisconsin.

"It's nice to get a win under our belt here at Indoors," said Georgia Tech head coach Bryan Shelton. "The girls played well today, and we're looking for another good match tomorrow."

With the win, the Yellow Jackets advanced to Friday's quarterfinals, where they will meet instate rival Georgia, which is ranked sixth in the nation with a perfect 4-0 record on the season. The match is scheduled to begin at 3:30 p.m. CT, and live stats will be available by clicking HERE or by visiting http://itatennis.com/WomensTeamIndoor08/results.htm.

Following a nearly two-hour delay as a result of long matches earlier in the day, the Yellow Jackets jumped out to early leads in all three doubles matches before Tech's top tandem of Kristi Miller and Kirsten Flower and No. 3 duo of Christy Striplin and Noelle Hickey posted back-to-back 8-3 wins to give Tech the coveted doubles point.

Ninth-Ranked Hurricanes Advance Into ITA Quarterfinals

MADISON, Wis. - For the fourth consecutive season, the University of Miami women's tennis team is advancing into the quarterfinal round of the ITA National Women's Team Indoor Championships after a 4-1 win over No. 13 William & Mary Thursday night at Nielsen Tennis Stadium.

The ninth-ranked Hurricanes clinched the doubles point with wins in the top two positions before coming away with singles victories in positions two, three and five to give UM its fourth-straight commanding win to open the season.

"William & Mary is a legitimate Top 15 program and our girls weren't intimidated at all by that," head coach Paige Yaroshuk-Tews said. "We played with so much heart at every position, our freshmen looked like upperclassman today and our upperclassmen looked like true leaders. I'm so proud of their overall team effort."

The `Canes will now face the tournament's top-seeded team and the current ITA No. 1 team in Stanford, Friday afternoon at 4:30 p.m. ET. The Hurricanes' match-up with the Cardinal became set after Stanford beat No. 11 Baylor, 4-2, in the final match of the tournament's opening round.

Clemson Falls To Cal, 4-2, At USTA/ITA National Team Indoor Championships

MADISON, Wis. - The Clemson women's tennis team claimed the doubles point for a 1-0 lead but won just one singles match to drop a 4-2 decision to #7 California in the first round of the USTA/ITA National Team Indoor Championships on Thursday.

The Tigers (3-2) will face Fresno State on Friday at 10:00 am (EST) at the Nielsen Tennis Center on the campus of the University of Wisconsin. Livestats for the match are available on the ITA's website.

Highlighting the singles action was sophomore Ani Mijacika's win over 10th-ranked Susie Babos at the top position. Mijacika, the nation's #4 singles player, avenged a three-set loss to the Cal player in the finals of the Riviera/ITA All-American Championships last October. The two players had also faced off in the NCAA Round of 16 last May, but the match was called after the Bears won their fourth point to advance to the quarterfinals.

On Thursday, Mijacika prevailed in a hard-fought first set that went to 11-9 in the tiebreak. The Makarska, Croatia native then defeated Babos, 6-4, for the straight-set victory.