Oct. 25, 2010
ATHENS, GA. – After dropping her first match of the USTA/ITA Southeast Regional Championship, Georgia Tech women’s tennis player Christina Ngo rallied to win her next five matches and the consolation championship over teammate Caroline Lilley, 6-2, 7-6(1), Monday morning at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex in Athens, Ga.
“It was great to see the way both Christina (Ngo) and Caroline (Lilley) came out and competed today,” said head coach Bryan Shelton. “It’s really tough to go out and compete against a teammate and leave it all on the line. They both played hard all week and didn’t shy away from the competition, which really tells me a lot about both of them.”
Ngo advanced through the consolation draw in impressive form, losing only one set in five matches. She downed Stetson’s Shannon Gunning 6-0, 6-0, and Florida Gulf Coast’s Melissa Narzissenfeld 6-0, 6-0 on Saturday. In Sunday’s quarterfinal match against Miami’s Kayla Rizzolo, Ngo dropped her first set of the consolation draw in the first set of the match, 2-6, but rebounded to take the final two sets 6-2, 6-4, advancing to the semifinal match. Ngo made quick work of Florida International’s Rita Maisak, 6-3, 6-2, to advance to Monday’s all Yellow Jacket consolation championship.
Not only were Ngo and Lilley challenged with playing a familiar face to overcome, the match was also moved indoors as a rain shower moved through the area. Ngo jumped out to an early lead and claimed the first set 6-2. Ngo again got off to a quick start in the second set, opening up a 3-1 lead, but Lilley battled back to 3-3, making it anyone’s set. Down the stretch, Ngo was just a little more steady in her play and grabbed the second set 7-6(1) to take the consolation title.
“I was proud of the way both players adapted to the conditions of the day,” Shelton said. “It’s tough to move inside for one match, the court is different, the speed of play. It’s a different game, but both Christina and Carolina played hard and represented Georgia Tech in the manner that we like to see all of our student-athletes represent us in.
“It was a good way to end the tournament and now we look forward to the UNC Invitational to round out our fall,” Shelton added. “There were a lot of good teams here this week and we saw what we need to work on to continue to get better.”
The Yellow Jackets will be off until the UNC Invitational, Nov. 5-7, in Chapel Hill, N.C., to wrap up the fall season.
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