ACC Women's Tennis Championship Off and Running After Busy Thursday

April 16, 2009

CARY, N.C. - The first round of the Atlantic Coast Conference Women's Tennis Championship offered no overwhelming surprises, but the outcomes set up some intriguing matchups in Friday's quarterfinal round.

Play resumes Friday at 9 a.m., when top-seeded Miami (21-3) takes on ninth-seeded Wake Forest (13-11). The Hurricanes, along with the other top four seeds in the field, received a first-round bye on Thursday while the Demon Deacons advanced with a 4-1 win over eighth-seeded Virginia Tech.

Noon action today features a battle between No. 4 Georgia Tech (16-6) and No. 5 Florida State (15-6). The Yellow Jackets have been ranked among the nation's elite throughout the regular season were in the hunt for the ACC Championship's top seed until the final weekend. The Seminoles have been on a tear in recent weeks, as Thursday's 4-0 first-round victory over 12th-seeded NC State was their eighth straight win.

The other noon matchup finds second-seeded Duke (20-3) paired against seventh-seeded Virginia (13-8). The Cavaliers topped 10th-seeded Boston College 4-1 on Thursday to move on to the quarterfinal round.

Sixth-seeded North Carolina (17-9) defeated 11th-seeded Maryland 4-0 in Thursday's final first-round match. The Tar Heels play in today's 3 p.m. quarterfinal game against third-seeded Clemson (17-6).

Sierra Poske and Emilee Malvehy both played key roles in Wake Forest's win over Virginia Tech on Thursday. Poske downed Jessica Brouwer 7-5, 6-7, 6-2 in No. 2 singles and teamed with Sasha Kulikova for a win in No. 1 doubles. Malvehy defeated Martha Blakely 6-4, 7-5 at No. 3 and joined Aileen Davis in winning at No. 2 doubles as the Demon Deacons clinched that point.

Singles wins by Jennifer Stevens, Amanda Rales and Maggie Yahner vs. Boston College assured Virginia of advancing. The Cavalier teams of Emily Fraser-Stevens and Maggie Yahner-Amanda Rales nailed down the doubles point with their respective 8-2 and 8-3 wins.

After opening No. 1 singles play with a 2-6 loss to NC State's Lenka Hojckova, Florida State's Katie Rybakova stormed back with 6-1, 6-0 victories to win the set. Ania Rynarzewska and Jessica Sucupira added straight-set wins at No. 4 and No. 6 singles as the Seminoles moved on.

North Carolina received straight-set singles wins from Sanaz Marand at No. 1, Jelena Durisic at No. 4 and Laura Reichert at No. 5 in the win over Maryland. Marand also teamed with Sophie Grabinski for an 8-2 win over Maggie Mackeever and Karin Lundmark to help the Tar Heels take the doubles point.

Please see the attached files for complete scores and an updated bracket. Follow all the action of the ACC Women's Tennis Championship at:

http://www.theacc.com/championships/09-tennis-championship.html

Find the Complete Results from today's matches:

http://www.theacc.com/championships/09-tennis-women-agates.html#firstround