CARY, N.C. – Georgia Tech women’s tennis senior, Kylie Bilchev opened main draw action at the ITA All-American Championships on Wednesday. The elite tournament, with automatic qualification into the NCAA Individual Championships in November, is being played at the Cary Tennis Park.
The senior earned a main draw position based on her preseason ITA ranking. She faced a top-35 opponent in Auburn’s DJ Bennett, who was a singles and doubles NCAA Championship selection last season.
Bennett came out strong in the opening set, jumping out with a 3-0 advantage to gain a comfortable lead. The Tiger pushed her advantage out to 5-1 before taking the set, 6-2. However, Bilchev regrouped and shifted gears in the second set, winning an early break for a 2-0 edge to start the set. But Bennett worked her way back and the foes stood knotted at 4-all. Bilchev had a solid opportunity to gain the lead, holding a break point in the next game, but Auburn held at deuce and took the final game to secure the match, 6-2, 6-4.
Bilchev will move into the consolation bracket on Thursday and face Valencia Xu (Stanford). The two finalists from the back draw will earn automatic qualification into the NCAA Singles Championship in November.
RESULTS
No. 32 DJ Bennett (Auburn) def. No. 51 Kylie Bilchev (GT) 6-2, 6-4
Thursday Schedule of Play
Consolation
No. 51 Kylie Bilchev (GT) vs. No. 77 Valencia Xu (Stanford)
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