May 16, 2008

Jackets Advance to NCAA Quarterfinals with 4-2 Win Over Texas

TULSA, Okla. - Kirsten Flower completed a singles comeback for the Yellow Jackets as No. 3 Georgia Tech (22-5) recovered after dropping the doubles point to pull out a 4-2 win over No. 19 Texas (20-7) Thursday in the Round of 16 of the 2008 NCAA Women's Tennis Championships.

"It was such a great match," said head coach Bryan Shelton. "Texas came out and played really well. They fought hard and really pushed us to the limit. Our girls really stepped up at the right time, and it was nice to see."

Christy Striplin, Kristi Miller, Amanda McDowell and Flower all notched straight-set singles wins to help the Yellow Jackets advance to the NCAA Quarterfinals for the second-consecutive season. Tech will face the University of Florida Saturday at 5 p.m. at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center in Tulsa, Okla.

With the Jackets trailing 0-2 after Texas won two of three doubles matches in addition to recording a straight-set win at No. 6 singles, Striplin gave Tech its first point of the match by dropping Caroline Larsson, 6-3, 6-2, at the No. 4 singles line.

Kristi Miller tied the match at 2-2 with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Vanja Corovic atop the singles lineup before Amanda McDowell gave Tech its first lead of the match with a 6-2, 6-4 victory against Courtney Zauft.

Blue Devils Come Up Short In Sweet Sixteen

TULSA, Okla. - The ninth-ranked Duke women's tennis team dropped a heartbreaking 4-3 loss to eighth-ranked California on Thursday afternoon in NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen action at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center in Tulsa, Okla.

The Blue Devils took a 1-0 lead after taking the doubles point, as the seventh-ranked Duke duo of sophomore Amanda Granson and junior Melissa Mang defeated the 12th-ranked Golden Bear pair of Susie Babos and Stephanie Kusano at the top position, 8-6, and the freshman tandem of Ellah Nze and Reka Zsilinszka posted an 8-6 triumph over the 54th-ranked Cal team of Bojana Bobusic and Cristina Visico at No. 3.

Singles action saw 92nd-ranked Bubosic get past junior Jessi Robinson, 6-1, 6-0, at No. 6 as Cal evened the score at 1-1, but Granson gave Duke a 2-1 advantage by defeating Kusano, 6-4, 7-5, at the No. 5 slot.

Fourth-ranked Marina Cossou then posted a 7-5, 7-6 (3) win over 21st-ranked Nze at the No. 2 position to knot the score at 2-2, but Duke again reclaimed the lead at 3-2 on 24th-ranked Zsilinszka's 6-1, 6-3 win over 35-ranked Visico at No. 3.

Miami Loses NCAA Round of 16 Battle With Baylor, 4-1

TULSA, Okla. - The No. 12 University of Miami women's tennis team saw its season come to a close with a 4-1 loss to No. 5 Baylor Thursday in the 2008 NCAA Women's Tennis Championship Round of 16 at the University of Tulsa's Michael D. Case Tennis Center.

Miami (17-6), making its third straight Sweet 16 appearance and fourth in the last five seasons, fell behind 3-0 early on and was never able to recover. After No. 100 Romy Farah won her match at No. 2, 7-6 (7), 6-1 over No. 43 Taylor Ormond to cut the deficit to 3-1, positions one, four and six were all in third sets with the match still in the balance.

At No. 1, No. 19 Laura Vallverdu and No. 25 Zuzana Zemenova were just beginning a third set after Vallverdu won the first, 6-3, and Zemenova won the second, 7-5. At No. 6, Claudia Wasilewski took a 3-1 lead in the third set over Zuzana Chmelarova after losing the first, 6-3, and winning the second, 6-2. For Baylor (31-2), the fourth set proved to be the deciding point as No. 99 Jana Bielikova, after losing the first set to Bianca Eichkorn, 6-0, came back to win the next two sets, 6-2, 6-2, to send the Bears into the quarterfinal round.

Clemson Women's Tennis Falls To Stanford, 4-0, In NCAA Round Of 16

TULSA, OK - The Clemson women's tennis team fell to fourth-seeded Stanford, 4-0, on Thursday in the 2008 NCAA Championships at the Michael T. Case Tennis Center in Tulsa, OK. The loss snapped the Tigers' 12-match winning streak and ended their season with a 17-10 record.

Inclement weather pushed back the starting time of Thursday's match and then caused a 45-minute delay once doubles action began. Stanford jumped out to early leads on courts two and three and quickly resumed form following the break. Celia Durkin and Carolyn McVeign won the first five games and went on to claim the 8-3 victory over Ina Hadziselimovic and Alexandra Luc at no. 3.

The Cardinal's 49th-ranked team of Whitney Deason and Jessica Nguyen then defeated Estefania Balda and Federica van Adrichem, 8-0, at the second position to clinch the doubles point and a 1-0 lead for Stanford. Hilary Barte and Lindsey Burdette were leading at no. 1 over Ani Mijacika and Carol Salge before their match was called.