May 13, 2016
COLUMBIA, S.C. – The No. 17 Georgia Tech women’s tennis squad defeated No. 39 Princeton by a score of 4-1 to open up NCAA Tournament play on Friday. The Jackets improved to 18-8 on the season.
Tech opened the match by taking the doubles point from Princeton, receiving victories from the pairings of Rasheeda McAdoo/Johnnise Renaud (6-2) and Kendal Woodard/Paige Hourigan (6-1). In singles play, McAdoo defeated Sivan Krems by a score of 6-2, 6-2 to give the Jackets a 2-0 advantage. After Priceton made it 2-1 with a win at No. 4, Renaud took down Amanda Muliawan to make it 3-1. Alexis Prokopuik then closed out the match with a 7-6 (7-4), 6-0 win over Nicole Kalhorn.
“Princeton really pushed us today,” head coach Rodney Harmon said. “We knew they won the Ivy League, so we were expecting it to be a tough match, and it was.”
“I think it’s great because expect the other team to be really good,” Harmon said of the benefit of a tough schedule up to this point. “That’s what we’re used to playing. At one stage in the season, we were 6-5, and four of our five losses were to teams that have been top 10 in the country. In the beginning, you’re wondering if it was the right thing to do – to play such a tough schedule. But I think in the end it helps out because when you go down the line, especially in our conference, we got 11 teams in the NCAA Tournament. We were able to go 11-3 in our conference, which I thought was really good. We won a lot of pretty tough matches against really tough teams. I think we have great belief in ourselves. I think we have great belief that we can compete against the best teams in the country, and we’re not going to fold – we’re going to fight until the last ball.”
The Jackets will face the winner of the South Carolina-Winthrop match at 2 p.m. Saturday. Live video and stats can be followed at http://buzz.gt/1UWPx62.
Singles (Order of Finish: 3, 4, 1, 5)
1. #34 Johnnise Renaud (GT) d. Amanda Muliawan (PRIN) 6-0, 7-5
2. #39 Paige Hourigan (GT) vs. Katrine Steffensen (PRIN) 6-2, 5-5 (susp.)
3. Rasheeda McAdoo (GT) d. Sivan Krems (PRIN) 6-2, 6-2
4. Caroline Joyce (PRIN) d. Kendal Woodard (GT) 7-5, 6-2
5. Alexis Prokopuik (GT) d. Nicole Kalhorn (PRIN) 7-6 (4), 6-0
6. Natasha Prokhnevska (GT) vs. Alanna Wolff (PRIN) 6-3, 3-6 (susp.)
Doubles (Order of Finish: 3, 2, 1)
1. #13 Woodard/Hourigan (GT) d. Muliawan/Steffensen (PRIN) 6-1
2. McAdoo/Renaud (GT) d. Joyce/Kalhorn (PRIN) 6-2
3. Hahn/Vives (PRIN) d. Kurey/Prokhnevska (GT) 6-3
