Feb. 9, 2008

No. 4 Jackets Blank No. 6 Dawgs, 7-0

MADISON, Wis. - Fourth-ranked Georgia Tech breezed through doubles play and notched straight-set wins in all six singles matches to blank No. 6 Georgia (4-1), 7-0, in the quarterfinals of the ITA National Team Indoor Championships, which are being contested at Nielsen Stadium on the campus of the University of Wisconsin.

"Everyone came out really pumped up," said senior captain Kristi Miller. "We had a tough fight in the doubles, but our team really stepped up their play tonight, which set the tone for singles. All of us then came out fired up in singles and really played well to pull off the victory."

With the win, the Yellow Jackets improved to 4-1 on the season and will face Stanford in the semifinals Saturday after the top-ranked Cardinal defeated the University of Miami Friday evening. The Jackets met Stanford one year ago in the semis, when they snapped the Cardinal's record-breaking 89-match win streak with a 4-3 victory before stopping Notre Dame in the finals the following day to capture the ITA National Team Indoor title.

"We are excited to be in the semifinals again," Miller added. "We were here last year and know what it takes (to win), which is playing well in pressure situations. We know that we have to go out and play with no fear, regardless of who it is (that we face)."

North Carolina Continues Impressive Showing with 4-3 Win Over USC

MADISON, Wis. - Junior Laura Reichert's thrilling win over Maria Sanchez at No. 5 singles ended a dramatic dual match, as No. 14 North Carolina rallied to defeat No. 8 Southern California, 4-3, in the ITA National Indoor Championships quarterfinals Friday night at the University of Wisconsin's Nielsen Tennis Stadium. Reichert needed more than three hours to finish a 7-5, 6-7 (3), 7-6 (5) win over Sanchez that put the Tar Heels (6-1) into the semifinals at the ITA Nationals for the first time in school history.

USC (5-1) took the early lead thanks to a win in a tightly-contested doubles point. The two teams split matches at the top two positions, leaving the match between Carolina's Meg Fanjoy and Austin Smith and Southern Cal's Leyla Entekhabi and Sarah Fansler at No. 3 to decide the point. The Tar Heel duo had two match points at 7-6, but the Women of Troy fought them off and eventually triumphed in a tiebreak, 9-8 (1).

Losing the doubles point meant that Carolina, the only unseeded team to advance to the quarterfinals, would need to win four of the six singles matches. Sophomore Katrina Tsang got the Tar Heels off to a strong start at No. 2 singles, dropping No. 51 Amanda Fink in straight sets, 6-3, 6-4. USC's Gabriela Niculescu would put her team back in front soon after, defeating freshman Jelena Durisic at No. 4, 6-7 (1), 6-2, 6-4.

Top-Ranked Stanford Edges No. 9 Miami, 4-3

MADISON, Wis. - The ninth-ranked University of Miami women's tennis team suffered its first loss of the season Friday night to undefeated and top-ranked Stanford, 4-3, in quarterfinal action at the ITA National Women's Team Indoor Championships at Nielsen Tennis Stadium.

After falling behind 2-0, Miami (4-1) would win two of the next three points to cut the Cardinal lead to one behind wins from Claudia Wasilewski in the No. 6 position and No. 29 Laura Vallverdu in the No. 1 spot but UM's comeback effort would fall short as No. 58 Carolyn McVeigh defeated Caren Seenauth, 6-2, 6-3, in the No. 5 position to advance Stanford (3-0) in the semifinal round.

The Cardinals earned the first point of the match after winning all three doubles matches. Stanford won by a count of 8-3 in both the No. 1 and No. 2 positions while also taking the No. 3 spot by a score of 8-4. Up 1-0, Stanford opened singles play with No. 21 Jessica Nguyen defeating Romy Farah in the No. 2 position, 6-3, 6-3, to put the Cardinal up by two.

Tiger Tennis Suffers Loss To Fresno State At USTA/ITA National Team Indoor Championships

MADISON, Wis. - The 16th-ranked Clemson women's tennis team dropped a 5-1 decision to #12 Fresno State on Friday at the USTA/ITA National Team Indoor Championships. The Tigers will conclude play in the tournament on Saturday at 10:00 am.

The Bulldogs took the 1-0 lead in the match with wins at the number one and two doubles positions. Ani Mijacika and Carol Salge fell to the nation's #1-ranked team of Melanie Gloria and Tinesta Row, 8-5, while the Fresno State duo of Renata Kucerkova and Anastasia Petukhova, ranked #29, defeated Clemson's Ina Hadziselimovic and Alexandra Luc by the same margin.

The flight three contest between the Tigers' Estefania Balda and Laurianne Henry and Jacqueline Haskett and Vanessa Heroux of the Bulldogs was suspended at 7-7 as Fresno State had clinched the point.

Luc was the only Clemson player victorious in singles play on Friday, defeating Danon Beatty in straight sets at flight six, 6-0, 6-1. Her win tied the score at one apiece.

Maryland Women's Tennis Sweeps Richmond, 7-0

COLLEGE PARK, Md. - Junior Michal Amir and sophomore Lisa Miller each won at both singles and doubles, leading the University of Maryland women's tennis team to its first victory of the season, a dominating 7-0 win over Richmond Friday afternoon.

The win improved the Terps to 1-2 on the season, while the Spiders dropped to 0-3.

Amir, playing with freshman Karin Lundmark at the No. 1 position, clinched the doubles point with an 8-3 win over Pamela Duran and Ashlee Vosters.

Amir followed that up with a 6-1, 6-3 straight-set win over Duran at No. 1 singles.

After Maggie MacKeever defeated Richmond's Erin Clark 7-5, 6-2 at No. 4 singles, Miller clinched the match with a convincing 6-1, 6-4 victory over Xenia Schneider at the No. 5 position.

Miller also teamed up with Adela Matejkova at No. 3 doubles to defeat Kelly Tidwell and Isabel Arana 8-2.

Boston College 4, Brown 3

More to follow...