May 8, 2015
GAINESVILLE, Fla.- Junior Megan Kurey of the #24 Georgia Tech women’s tennis team (17-9) won a hard-fought three set match to clinch a 4-3 win against #36 Wichita State (24-4) in the first round of the NCAA Championship at the Ring Tennis Complex on the University of Florida’s campus on Friday afternoon.
For the second time in the past three matches, the score was tied at 3-3 and all eyes were on Kurey, who was battling Abby Stevens on court four. Kurey had lost her first set to Stevens, 6-3, and Stevens jumped ahead to a 5-3 lead in the second frame. Kurey came roaring back to take a 6-5 advantage but the Shocker’s Stevens won the next game, sending the second set into a tiebreaker.
Neither Kurey nor Stevens took more than a one point lead until Stevens went up 6-4 in the tiebreaker. Kurey, determined not to let the Shockers clinch the match, rattled off the next four points to win the tiebreaker 8-6 and send the match into a third set.
The script of the third set was similar to the second set — Stevens took a 5-3 lead. Kurey stuck to the script and fought back hard to knot the score at 5-5. Georgia Tech’s captain battled it out for her team, winning the next two games and securing an exciting victory for the Jackets and a trip to the second round of the NCAA Championship.
Georgia Tech will face host Florida at 1 p.m. on Saturday. Live stats for the match are available here.
“Megan (Kurey) really gutted it out,” head coach Rodney Harmon said. “Wichita State played extremely well. They out-played us in doubles. We came out in singles and won the first set on a number of courts, but they kept fighting back. We won pretty fast on courts one and two and then won, I thought, pretty well down on five. They got us on three and then it got really tight down on this end, they won on six and then it came down to Megan playing really tough at the finish. We’re just fortunate — she has done it a couple times for us this year. It’s good having her at the finish line.”
The Yellow Jackets improve to 15-1 in NCAA round of 64 matches and have extended their first round winning streak to 14 straight matches.
After a lineup dispute that delayed the start of the match 40 minutes, the Yellow Jackets fell behind 1-0 to the Shockers after doubles play. Despite sophomore Rasheeda McAdoo and freshman Johnnise Renaud rolling to an 8-0 victory on court three against Luca Pump and Aleksandra Trifunovic, Georgia Tech suffered losses on courts one and two, dropping the doubles point for just the seventh time this season.
After playing to a 3-3 tie on court two against Gabriela Porubin and Julia Schiller, junior Kendal Woodard and freshman Alexis Prokopuik lost the next five games to fall in the match, 8-3. The Shockers secured the 1-0 lead on court one after Lucia Kovalova and Rebecca Pedrazzi defeated Kurey and Alexa Anton-Ohlmeyer, 8-4.
McAdoo and Renaud continued their momentum from their win in doubles into singles, both winning on their respective courts to give the Jackets a 2-1 lead.
Renaud, ranked #101 in the country, jumped out to a 5-0 lead in her first set against Schiller, at the number one spot. Schiller won the next two games, but Renaud put the first set away to win 6-2. She then came out to win the second set by the same score, 6-2.
McAdoo finished seconds after Renaud on court two. The Boca Raton, Fla., native also won by a 6-2, 6-2 score against Porubin and gave the Jackets the advantage.
The score was tied for a split second after Prokopuik fell to Trifunovic, 6-3, 6-2, on court six, but a win from Anton-Ohlmeyer on court five would give Tech back its lead, 3-2.
Anton-Ohlmeyer came out firing in her first set taking a 5-0 lead and only letting Kovalova win one game on her way to a 6-1 win. The two opponents played to a 4-4 tie but then Anton-Ohlmeyer won the next two games to take the second set victory, 6-4.
On court three, Woodard cruised to a 6-1 victory in set one before falling 6-3 in set two to Pedrazzi. Meanwhile on court four, fellow junior Kurey had lost her first set to Abby Stevens, 6-3. Stevens took a 5-3 lead in the second set, before Kurey came back to go ahead 6-5. Woodard then lost in her third set, 6-2, making the match on court four the deciding match.
Tennis Match Results
Wichita State vs Georgia Tech
May 08, 2015 at Gainesville, Fla.
(Linder Stadium at Ring Tennis Complex)
#24 Georgia Tech 4, #36 Wichita State 3
Singles competition
- #101 Johnnise Renaud (GT) def. Julia Schiller (WSU) 6-2, 6-2
- Rasheeda McAdoo (GT) def. Garbriela Porubin (WSU) 6-2, 6-2
- Rebecca Pedrazzi (WSU) def. Kendal Woodard (GT) 1-6, 6-3, 6-2
- Megan Kurey (GT) def. Abby Stevens (WSU) 3-6, 7-6 (8-6), 7-5
- Alexa Anton-Ohlmeyer (GT) def. Lucia Kovalova (WSU) 6-1, 6-4
- Aleksandra Trifunovi (WSU) def. Alexis Prokopuik (GT) 6-3, 6-2
Doubles competition
- Lucia Kovalova/Rebecca Pedrazzi (WSU) def. Megan Kurey/Alexa Anton-Ohlmeyer (GT) 8-4
- Garbriela Porubin/Julia Schiller (WSU) def. Alexis Prokopuik/Kendal Woodard (GT) 8-3
- Rasheeda McAdoo/Johnnise Renaud (GT) def. Luca Pump/Aleksandra Trifunovi (WSU) 8-0
Match Notes:
Wichita State 24-4; National ranking #36
Georgia Tech 17-9; National ranking #24
Order of finish: Doubles (,2,1,3); Singles (1,2,6,3,5,4)
NCAA Championship First Round
–TogetherWeSwarm–
