Sept. 30, 2007
LOS ANGELES – Freshman Noelle Hickey earned three wins – two singles and one doubles – as Georgia Tech swept all six of its matches on day one of the ITA All-American Prequalifying Draw, which is being contested at UCLA this weekend.
Hickey and Maya Johansson both started their ITA All-American Championships action in the prequalifying tournament, and stand just one singles win away from advancing to the qualifying bracket, which begins play Oct. 2 at the Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades, Calif.
“It was a good day for us, with everyone winning their matches on the first day of competition, so you couldn’t ask for more than that,” head coach Bryan Shelton said Saturday night. “Noelle was lights out, especially in her second match of the day, while Maya really played well with her comeback win in her first singles match.”
Hickey opened tournament play with a 6-1, 6-4 victory over UC Irvine’s Becky Bernhard before stopping Texas-Arlington’s No. 9-16 seeded Klara Jagasova, 6-1, 6-0. The Yellow Jacket freshman will square off against Arkansas’ Aurelija Miseviciute Sunday with the winner advancing to the qualifying tournament.
Johansson defeated Wichita State’s Lenore Lazaroui, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, and cruised to a 6-3, 6-1 victory over Texas Tech’s Samantha Van Der Drift to set up a Sunday matchup with Rice’s Julie Chao in the round of 16.
Hickey teamed with Yellow Jacket junior Christy Striplin to knock off Sacramento State’s No. 5-8 seeded duo of Luba Schifris and Katrina Zheltova, 8-2, and will face Cal State Northridge’s Kanykey Koichumanova and Canna Furuta Sunday afternoon.
Johansson and sophomore Kirsten Flower received a bye in the first round of the doubles bracket after receiving the No. 1 seed in the tournament, and the Yellow Jacket duo will face Cal Poly’s Brittany Alalock and Steffi Wong Sunday in their first match.
Freshman Sasha Krupina paired with Tech sophomore Amanda McDowell to stop Anastassia Lyssenko and Aileen Tsan, 8-6, and will continue doubles action Sunday against the Wichita State tandem of Lazaroui and Florenta Hanish.
The Oct.4-7 main draw of the ITA All-American Championships is preceded by two sets of qualifying tournaments. The 64-player, 32 doubles team prequalifying tournament is Sept. 29-30, and eight players and four doubles teams will advance from there to the Oct. 2-3 64-player qualifying tournament at Riviera (where eight players and four doubles teams will advance to the main draw).
The famous Riviera Tennis Club has played host to this event since 1988 (it also hosted an intercollegiate women’s championship from 1986-88).
Whitney McCray, Striplin, Flower and McDowell all start singles play in the qualifying bracket Tuesday. Miller, ranked fifth in the nation in singles, has received a bye to the main draw, and will begin play next Thursday.
For more information on the 2007 Riviera/ITA All-American Championships, go to: http://itatennis.com/Riviera07/main.htm.
(R64) Noelle Hickey (GT) def. Becky Bernhard (UC Irvine), 6-1, 6-4 (R32) Hickey (GT) def. No. 9-16 Klara Jagasova (Texas-Arlington), 6-1, 6-0 (R16) Hickey (GT) vs. Aurelija Miseviciute (Arkansas), Sunday
(R64) Maya Johansson (GT) def. Lenore Lazaroui (Wichita St.), 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 (R32) Johansson (GT) def. Samantha Van Der Drift (Texas Tech), 6-3, 6-1 (R16) Johansson (GT) vs. Julie Chao (Rice), Sunday
(R32) No. 1 Johansson/Kirsten Flower (GT) received bye (R16) No. 1 Johansson/Flower (GT) vs. Brittany Alalock/Steffi Wong (Cal Poly), Sunday
(R32) Hickey/Christy Striplin (GT) def. No. 5-8 Luba Schifris/Katrina Zheltova (Sacramento St.), 8-2 (R16) Hickey/Striplin (GT) vs. Kanykey Koichumanova/Canna Furuta (CS Northridge), Sunday
(R32) Amanda McDowell/Sasha Krupina (GT) def. Anastassia Lyssenko/Aileen Tsan (Sacramento St.), 8-6 (R16) McDowell/Krupina (GT) vs. No. 5-8 Lazaroui/Florenta Hanish (Wichita St.), Sunday
