Oct. 24, 2008
ATHENS, Ga. – Georgia Tech’s Christy Striplin and Noelle Hickey won three straight doubles matches to lead the Yellow Jackets’ opening-day performance at the University of Georgia’s Dan Magill Tennis Complex.
The tournament’s schedule was altered due to an entire day of rain in the forecast. Tournament officials moved the first three rounds of the doubles draw to Friday. The singles draw will begin Saturday morning.
Striplin and Hickey, the tournament’s No. 4 seed, opened the day with an 8-4 win over Lindsey Mallory and Taylor Morgan of Samford. The Yellow Jacket duo continued its run by defeating Diana Nakic and Dariana Kozmina of Georgia State, 8-4. In the quarterfinals, Tech’s twosome finished off Alabama’s Paulina Bigos and Tiffany Welcher, 8-4. Striplin and Hickey will next face Bianca Eichkorn and Michaela Kissell of Miami Sunday in the semifinals.
“Christy and Noelle played pretty well today, especially in their last match,” head coach Bryan Shelton said. “I thought they started a little slow but just got better as the day went on and by the end, they were hitting on all cylinders. I think this was good for them to grow as a team in one day and could help them in their singles matches tomorrow. Overall, it was just a good day.”
Sasha Krupina and Viet Ha Ngo reached the second round of the doubles draw with a first round 8-2 win over Lauren Pfieffer and Eva Sambrano of Florida Gulf Coast. Krupina and Ngo would drop a tight match in the second round to Tatiana Soldatova and Elvira Yusupova of Jacksonville, 9-7. Tech’s doubles team of Lynn Blau and Hillary Davis lost in the first round to the tournament’s No. 2 seed Alex Haney and Melissa Koning, 8-1.
The Yellow Jackets will continue competition Saturday morning at 9 a.m. in the singles draw. For more information, please click here.
– RamblinWreck.com –
Friday’s Doubles Results
R32:(4) Hickey/Striplin (Georgia Tech) def. Morgan/Mallory (Samford), 8-4
R32:(5-8) Krupina/Ngo (Georgia Tech) def. Sambrano/Pfeiffer (Florida Gulf Coast), 8-2
R32:(2) Haney/Koning (Auburn) def. Blau/Davis (Georgia Tech), 8-1
R16: (4) Hickey/Striplin (Georgia Tech) def. Nakic/Kozmina (Georgia State), 8-4
R16: Soldatova/Yusupova (Jacksonville) def. (5-8) Krupina/Ngo (Georgia Tech), 9-7
QF: (4) Hickey/Striplin (Georgia Tech) def. (5-8) Welcher-Bigos (Alabama), 8-4
