May 21, 2015
WACO, Texas — Despite winning the first set, the Georgia Tech women’s tennis doubles team of freshman Paige Hourigan and junior Kendal Woodard were eliminated from the NCAA Doubles Championship after a three-set loss to #5 Zsofi Susanyi and Klara Fabikova of California.
“Today’s doubles match was a tough one,” head coach Rodney Harmon said. “We were ahead and had three match points but we just could not get the match closed. I have to give credit to the team from Cal because they continued to fight and they found a way to win. In the second set, we had unfortunate luck in the tiebreaker and lost. Cal played a great third set and we can see why they are ranked so high. I thought our team played well, but we just weren’t able to close the match out. “
The #21 ranked duo of Hourigan and Woodard started off hot in the first set, turning a 3-2 advantage into a 6-2 victory to get ahead of their opponents, who were seeded 5-8 in the doubles bracket.
The Yellow Jacket duo carried their momentum into the second set, running to a 4-0 lead in the second frame. Hourigan and Woodard took a 5-1 advantage, but Susanyi and Fabikova fought back to knot the score at 5-5. Hourigan and Woodard went up 6-5, but the pair from California tied it up yet again and sent the second set into a tiebreaker. Hourigan and Woodard fought in the tiebreaker, but fell short, 10-8, and the match was headed into a third set.
Susanyi and Fabikova jumped ahead in the third frame from the get-go and defeated Hourigan and Woodard, 6-3, in the third set, eliminating the Yellow Jackets from the NCAA Doubles Championship.
Hourigan also played in the NCAA Singles Championship where she fell to the #2 ranked player in the country, Carol Zhao from Stanford, yesterday.
–TogetherWeSwarm–
