No. 13 Jackets Down No. 6 Duke, 5-2

THE FLATS – No. 13 Georgia Tech women’s tennis defeated No. 6 Duke for the second time in 2021 and handed the Blue Devils their first Atlantic Coast Conference loss of the season, 5-2, Friday night.  The win, which snapped Duke’s seven-match win streak, moved Tech to 11-6 overall and 4-2 in league play.

DOUBLES – Entering the match, Duke (9-2, 4-1 ACC) had won 14-straight doubles points in dual matches dating back to last season, but the Yellow Jackets ended that run Friday night, winning two doubles courts to clinch the early lead. Duke took the early advantage, winning 6-2 on court three, but the Yellow Jackets leveled the playing field with a victory on court two. On serve at 4-all, Gia Cohen and Ava Hrastar won the next two games to pocket the match, 6-4, leaving the decision on court one where Kenya Jones and Victoria Flores faced Margaryta Bilokin and Meible Chi in a battle that lasted over an hour.

The Blue Devils claimed a 5-3 lead before Tech took the next two games to rally back to 5-all. Both opponents held their next service game to force a tiebreak at 6-6. Jones and Flores raced out with a 6-1 lead in the tiebreak and clinched the doubles point at 7-3 to give Tech a 1-0 lead in the match.

SINGLES: Duke got on the scoreboard with a win on court four, but the Jackets answered pocketing the next three singles matches to clinch the victory. Carol Lee returned the lead to Tech, cruising to a 6-2, 6-4 win over No. 44 Bilokin on court five. After taking the first set, Lee trailed in the second, 4-2, but answered rattling off the next four games to take the match in straight sets.

Mahak Jain cushioned Tech’s lead from the six seed, defeating No. 95 Berankova, 6-4, 7-6 (5). The freshman erased a 3-0 deficit in the first set to take the opener, 6-4, and battled to a tiebreak in the second set. Berankova came out with a 4-2 lead in the tiebreak before Jain rallied to a 5-all standstill, sealing the win, 7-5, in the tiebreak to put the Jackets up 3-1.

The match was clinched from the top spot where Jones handed No. 8 Chen her second ACC loss of the season. The opponents split the first two sets, forcing a deciding third where Jones opened with a 4-2 lead. The senior broke Chen in the next game for a 5-2 advantage and held off a rally from the Blue Devil, clinching the match with a 6-4 third set victory, setting up a 4-1 tally in favor of the Jackets.

Duke fought off two match points on court three as No. 28 Drummy narrowly edged Hrastar, 6-3, 4-6, 7-5, before Flores concluded the night on court two. No. 56 Flores and No. 29 Beck split the first two sets and the Blue Devil opened a 4-1 lead in the final set before Flores rallied back to win the next five games to pocket the match, 7-5, 2-6, 6-4 for the final 5-2 victory. Duke has dropped only two matches this season, both coming at Georgia Tech.

“I’m really proud of the fight in this team tonight,” said Byers Women’s Tennis Head Coach Rodney Harmon. “That’s two great matches against two very good ACC opponents, playing some of our best tennis. We’ll need to continue to play well when we face North Carolina on Sunday.”

UP NEXT – The Yellow Jackets continue this homestand on Sunday, welcoming No. 1 North Carolina. First serve is slated for noon.

RESULTS
DOUBLES
1. No. 5 Kenya Jones/Victoria Flores (GT) def. Margaryta Bilokin/Meible Chi (DUKE) 7-6 (7-3)
2. Ava Hrastar/Gia Cohen (GT) def. Chloe Beck/Karolina Beranova (DUKE) 6-4
3. Kelly Chen/Georgia Drummy (DUKE) def. Sophia Sassoli/Monika Dedaj (GT) 6-2
Order of finish: 3, 2, 1

SINGLES
1. No. 13 Kenya Jones (GT) def. No. 8 Kelly Chen (DUKE) 6-3, 2-6, 6-4
2. No. 56 Victoria Flores (GT) def. No. 29 Chloe Beck (DUKE) 7-5, 2-6, 6-4
3. No. 28 Georgia Drummy (DUKE) def. Ava Hrastar (GT) 6-3, 4-6, 7-5
4. No. 111 Meible Chi (DUKE) def. Rosie Garcia Gross (GT) 6-3, 6-2
5. Carol Lee (GT) def. No. 44 Margaryta Bilokin (DUKE) 6-2, 6-4
6. Mahak Jain (GT) def. No. 95 Karolina Berankova (DUKE) 6-4, 7-6 (7-5)
Order of finish: 4, 5, 6, 1, 3, 2

Alexander-Tharpe Fund
The Alexander-Tharpe Fund is the fundraising arm of Georgia Tech athletics, providing scholarship, operations and facilities support for Georgia Tech’s 400-plus student-athletes. Be a part of developing Georgia Tech’s Everyday Champions and helping the Yellow Jackets compete for championships at the highest levels of college athletics by supporting the A-T Fund’s Annual Athletic Scholarship Fund, which directly provides scholarships for Georgia Tech student-athletes, and Athletics Initiative 2020, Georgia Tech athletics’ ongoing $125 million initiative to allow Tech to recruit the nation’s most elite student-athletes, build a better student-athlete once they arrive on The Flats and, ultimately, win! To learn more about supporting the Yellow Jackets, visit atfund.org.