April 23, 2010
Complete Results | Photo Gallery | Championship Central
CARY, N.C. – Junior Sasha Krupina won a third-set tiebreaker to lead the seventh-seeded Georgia Tech Women’s Tennis team (16-9) to a dramatic 4-3 upset win over No. 2-seeded Miami (17-5) Friday afternoon in the second round of the 2010 Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament at the Cary (N.C.) Tennis Center.
Krupina came up with one of the biggest wins of her career by defeating Anna Bartenstein, 7-5, 2-6, 7-6 (5), at No. 3 singles to send the Yellow Jackets into the semifinals. Tech will face either Clemson or Virginia Saturday at 1:00 p.m.
“It was a huge win today,” head coach Bryan Shelton said. “We had players step up all over the place, make plays and seize opportunities. I am just really proud of how well we played today and executed playing the right way.
“Sasha was certainly the player of the day. Winning the match in a third-set tiebreaker at the ACC Tournament over Miami is certainly special. But, we have more work to do tomorrow, so we will get focused in on that.”
The Yellow Jackets played tough but fell behind 1-0 after the doubles matches. After taking the match on court two, Miami’s eighth-ranked doubles tandem of Laura Vallverdu and Gabriela Mejia defeated No. 21 Irina Falconi and Sasha Krupina, 8-4, on court one.
Bianca Eichkorn pushed the Hurricanes lead to 2-0 when she defeated Viet Ha Ngo, 6-0, 6-1, at No. 2 singles.
Falconi, the nation’s top -ranked player, got the Jackets on the board with a 6-2, 6-3 victory over No. 8 Vallverdu. Falconi has won 18 straight matches on the season and is 24-1 in singles during the dual-match season.
Miami extended its lead to 3-1 when Claudia Wasilweski finished of Hillary Davis, 6-3, 6-4, in the sixth position in the lineup.
Lynn Blau brought the Yellow Jackets within one with a 6-3, 7-6 (6) victory over Danielle Mills on court four. Blau earned her third straight victory and has won seven of her last eight matches.
Tech tied up the match at 3-3 when Elizabeth Kilborn held on for a 7-5, 1-6, 6-3 win over No. 87 Mejia. Kilborn earned her first career victory against a ranked opponent.
Krupina atoned for a three-set loss in the second round of last season’s ACC Championship when she came through with the big win today.
Live stats and video from the 2010 ACC Championship will be available on Ramblinwreck.com for Saturday semifinal match.
-RamblinWreck.com-
