Sept. 19, 2009
ATLANTA – Irina Falconi, ranked eighth in the preseason Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) poll, defeated No. 6 Laura Vallverdu of Miami to lead the Georgia Tech women’s tennis team on the second day of the Georgia Tech Fall Invitational at the Bill Moore Tennis Center.
Falconi, a sophomore from Jupiter, Fla., earned her second singles win of the tournament behind a 7-6, 6-4 straight-set victory over last year’s NCAA Singles Tournament runner-up.
“Irina was tough in every point today,” assistant coach Anca Dumitrescu said. “She hit quality shots and kept Vallverdu under constant pressure throughout the match. Irina moved and defended very well and took advantage of the opportunities presented to her.”
In the most exciting singles match of the day, sophomore Lynn Blau dropped the opening set of her fourth-flight match with Danielle Mills, 6-1, and trailed in the second set 4-1 before making her move. Blau stormed back to win the second set 7-5 and ultimately defeated her Hurricane opponent by taking the third set 6-2.
Sophomore Hillary Davis looked very strong as she defeated Princeton’s Blakely Ashley, 6-1, 6-0, in the sixth flight. Sophomore Viet Ha Ngo also earned a singles win for the Yellow Jackets.
“Mills started off very aggressive but in the second set, Lynn was able to establish momentum and win a few key points,” Dumitrescu said. “In the third set, Lynn was just tougher and wanted it more. Hillary and Christina played extremely solid today. They both were very aggressive for the entire duration of their matches and out-toughed their opponents.”
The Yellow Jackets opened Saturday by sweeping through the doubles matches, including a pair of wins over Georgia. Falconi and Amanda McDowell ran away with an 8-1 victory in the first flight over Chelsey Gullickson and Yvette Hyndman of the Bulldogs. In the second flight, Sasha Krupina teamed with Elizabeth Kilborn for an 8-5 win over Georgia’s Naoka Ueshima and Cameron Ellis. Davis and Blau picked up the third double’s win of the day for the Jackets.
The Georgia Tech Fall Invitational will continue Sunday morning with singles play beginning at 9 a.m. Members of Georgia Tech are scheduled to face student-athletes from Georgia around 1 p.m.
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