May 14, 2016
COLUMBIA, S.C. – The No. 17 Georgia Tech women’s tennis squad defeated No. 13 South Carolina by a score of 4-0 to earn a spot in the Round of 16 of the NCAA Tournament in Tulsa, Okla. The Jackets improved to 19-8 on the season.
The Jackets opened the match with a victory from Kendal Woodard and Paige Hourigan by a score of 6-3. Rasheeda McAdoo and Johnnise Renuad then clinched the doubles point for the Jackets with a 6-4 victory over Caroline Dailey and Brigit Folland of South Carolina.
“We realized that South Carolina plays such great doubles,” head coach Rodney Harmon said. “(South Carolina coach) Kevin (Epley) does a great job with their doubles teams and their formations. They’ve been very successful in doubles, so we knew that we had to come out a and play really well because we felt like that would help our momentum. They came back at No. 3 against us and did a really good job finishing. Then it was just a bit of a battle at No. 2. Our No. 1 team is 13th in the country, has played well all tear and I thought they played one of their better matches today. But the No. 2 match was really, really close. I think we were down 3-1 and 0-40 at one point, and we were able to scrape our way back in and win at the finish line. South Carolina plays such great doubles, and you have to play such disciplined doubles against them because they do such a great job.”
The Jackets got on top early in singles play, winning the first set in four of the six matches. Hourigan made it 2-0 for the Jackets with a 6-2, 6-1 win over Ingrid Martins. Johnnise Renaud made it 3-0 with a win over No. 58 Dailey of South Carolina before McAdoo closed it out with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Paige Cline.
“At different times they’ve played pretty amazing tennis,” Harmon said of Renaud, Hourigan and McAdoo. “Johnnise had a win over Stephanie Wagner from Miami, who was No. 6 or 7 in the country, and played pretty amazing. Paige played against Julia Elbaba when we played Virginia, and she beat her. And Rasheeda’s been playing really, really well, so our 1, 2, and 3 have been doing a really good job.”
The Jackets will play Ohio State in the Round of 16 on May 19 in Tulsa, Okla.
Match Results
NCAA Tournament (2nd Round)
(13) South Carolina vs. (17) Georgia Tech
5/14/16 at Columbia, S.C. (Carolina Tennis Center)
#17 Georgia Tech 4, #13 South Carolina 0
Doubles (Order of Finish: 1, 3, 2*)
1. #13 Woodard/Hourigan (GT) d. #29 Cline/Berg (SC) 6-3
2. McAdoo/Renaud (GT) d. Folland/Dailey (SC) 6-4
3. Martins/Rohrabacher (SC) d. Kurey/Prokhnevska (GT) 6-3
Singles (Order of Finish: 2, 1, 3*)
1. #34 Johnnise Renaud (GT) d. #58 Caroline Dailey (SC) 6-1, 6-4
2. #39 Paige Hourigan (GT) d. #78 Ingrid Gamarra Martins (SC) 6-2, 6-1
3. Rasheeda McAdoo (GT) d. #83 Paige Cline (SC) 6-2, 6-2
4. Hadley Berg (SC) led Kendal Woodard (GT) 6-4, 4-1 (susp.)
5. Alexis Prokopuik (GT) led Brigit Folland (SC) 6-3, 4-3 (susp.)
6. Ximena Siles Luna (SC) led Natasha Prokhnevska (GT) 6-5 (susp.)
