THE FLATS – No. 10 Georgia Tech collected the doubles point and claimed four singles matches for a 5-2 win over No. 42 Clemson on Friday night at the Ken Byers Tennis Complex. Gia Cohen clinched the match for the Yellow Jackets from court three in a three-set battle, pushing Tech to 13-5 overall and 3-1 in league play.
DOUBLES ACTION: Tech captured a quick doubles point with victories on courts one and three. After Clemson took court two, Tech’s No. 17 duo of Kenya Jones and Victoria Flores evened the doubles field with a 6-2 win on court one over Sydney Riley and Tate Schroeder. The Jackets broke the Tigers to take a 4-2 lead and won the next two games to leave the doubles point to be decided on court three where Nadia Gizdova and Sophia Sassoli held a comfortable lead over Laura Marti and Ali DeSpain. Tech came out with a 3-0 advantage and pushed its lead to 4-1. Sassoli served out the match for a 6-2 triumph to give the Jackets a 1-0 lead.
SINGLES ACTION: The Tigers took the first singles match to knot the score at 1-all, winning 6-3, 6-0 on court six. Rosie Garcia Gross returned the lead to the Jackets with a win on court five over Lana Sipek. After trailing 3-0 in the first set, Garcia Gross reset and took a 4-3 lead and held for a 6-4 victory in the first set. She opened the second set with a 3-1 lead and pocketed the win, 6-2. Nami Otsuka cushioned Tech’s lead from court four. Tied at 3-all in the opening set, the senior took a 4-3 lead and claimed the first set, 6-4. Otsuka trailed 5-2 in the second set, but regrouped and won the next five games to win the match, 6-4, 7-5, and give Tech a 2-1 lead.
Clemson cut its deficit winning a three-set battle on court one. No. 23 Jones rolled in the first set, 6-3, but Schroeder battled back to win the next two sets. Tied at 4-4 in the second, the Tiger forced a deciding third set, winning, 6-4, and topped Jones in the third set, 6-2, setting up a 3-2 match score.
Tech needed just one remaining match to capture the win and the victory would come from Cohen on court three. Cohen raced out to a 4-0 lead over Eleni Louka in the first set, collecting the opener, 6-3, before Louka rallied for a 7-5 second set win. Cohen trailed 3-1 in the deciding third set, but rallied back to knot the set at 3-all. Cohen pulled out with a 5-4 lead and held serve for a 6-4 third set win, clinching the match at 4-2 for Georgia Tech.
Flores won a challenging match on court two over Mackenzy Middlebrooks. Tied at 5-5 in the first set, Flores would win the next two games for a 7-5 first set opener, but Middlebrooks won a hard-fought second set, 6-4. Flores came out with a 5-1 lead in the final set and served out the match at 6-2.
“It was a much closer match than the score today,” said head coach Rodney Harmon. “Clemson came in and played really well. We were able to match their match their intensity and finish strong in singles to win the match. But it was a tough, three-hour match.”
UP NEXT: Georgia Tech continues this homestand on Sunday, welcoming No. 12 Wake Forest. First serve is slated for noon at the Ken Byers Tennis Complex.
RESULTS
Doubles
1-No. 17 Kenya Jones/Victoria Flores (GT) def. Sydney Riley/Tate Schroeder (CU) 6-2
2-Mackenzy Middlebrooks/Eleni Louka (CU) def. Gia Cohen/Nami Otsuka (GT) 6-0
3-Nadia Gizdova/Sophia Sassoli (GT) def. Laura Marti/Ali DeSpain (CU) 6-1
Order of finish: 2,1,3
Singles
1-Tate Schroeder (CU) def. No. 23 Kenya Jones (GT) 3-6, 6-4, 6-2
2-No. 71 Victoria Flores (GT) def. Mackenzy Middlebrooks (CU) 7-5, 4-6, 6-1
3-No. 110 Gia Cohen (GT) def. Eleni Louka (CU) 6-3, 5-7, 6-4
4-Nami Otsuka (GT) def. Ali DeSpain (CU) 6-4, 7-5
5-Rosie Garcia Gross (GT) def. Lana Sipek (CU) 6-4, 6-2
6-Sydney Riley (CU) def. Nadia Gizdova (GT) 6-3, 6-0
Order of finish: 6,5,4,1,3,2
Alexander-Tharpe Fund
The Alexander-Tharpe Fund is the fundraising arm of Georgia Tech athletics, providing scholarship, operations and facilities support for Georgia Tech’s 400-plus student-athletes. Be a part of developing Georgia Tech’s Everyday Champions and helping the Yellow Jackets compete for championships at the highest levels of college athletics by supporting the A-T Fund’s Annual Athletic Scholarship Fund, which directly provides scholarships for Georgia Tech student-athletes, and Athletics Initiative 2020, Georgia Tech athletics’ ongoing $125 million initiative to allow Tech to recruit the nation’s most elite student-athletes, build a better student-athlete once they arrive on The Flats and, ultimately, win! To learn more about supporting the Yellow Jackets, visit atfund.org.
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