March 16, 2005
ATHENS, Ga. – Alison Silverio, Lyndsay Shosho, Kristi Miller and Dasha Potapova all won singles matches to help No. 16 Georgia Tech (11-2) to its first victory in 16 chances over instate rival Georgia (10-2) Wednesday afternoon at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex in Athens, Ga. The Yellow Jackets’ 4-3 victory over the second-ranked Bulldogs also marks the highest-ranked opponent that Georgia Tech has ever defeated in women’s tennis.
“It was awesome, that’s all I can say,” said Georgia Tech head coach Bryan Shelton. “The girls played really well and fought hard. They just refused to take no for an answer, and I think this is a great step for our program.”
The Bulldogs carried a 1-0 match lead heading into singles play after winning at the Nos. 1 and 3 doubles positions to gain the doubles point. Prior to the match, the Bulldogs were 10-0 when winning the doubles point in 2005. The Yellow Jackets lone doubles victory came as Kristi Miller and Dasha Potapova teamed at the No. 2 slot to down Georgia’s Kelley Hyndman and Evgenia Subbotina, 8-6.
Georgia went up 2-0 in the match when No. 26 Natalie Frazier defeated Tech’s Kelly Anderson, 6-3, 6-4 at the No. 2 singles slot, but the Yellow Jackets won at Nos. 1, 3, 4 and 5 positions to earn their first victory over their arch-rival Bulldogs in 16 attempts.
Potapova, ranked No. 94 in the nation, got the Yellow Jackets on the board with a comeback win at No. 3 singles. After dropping the first set, 2-6, to Georgia’s Hyndman, Potapova won 6-0, 6-3 in the final two frames to pull Tech to within 2-1 in the match score.
“Dasha got it started,” said Shelton. “She just came out and ran and battled and just wouldn’t quit, which gave us a good start, and then Kristi battle back after losing the first set and falling behind in the third and just wouldn’t come off the court without a win.”
No. 24 Kristi Miller tied the match at 2-2 with a three-set victory over fourth-ranked Shadisha Robinson at No. 1 singles, 2-6, 6-2, 7-6, before Shosho gave the Yellow Jackets its first lead at 3-2 on a straight-set victory over Subbotina, 6-2, 6-4, at the No. 5 position.
Silverio dropped a first-set tiebreaker to the Bulldogs’ Caroline Basu in the No. 4 singles slot, but then came back with 6-4, 6-2 scores in the next two frames to secure the match victory for the Yellow Jackets.
“When Alison got into the third set, she got up and just never backed off,” said Shelton. “I think it was a huge step for her because being able to finish a match is something that she’s been working on. But she never backed off and really stepped it up in the third set.
The Yellow Jackets’ will play their next dual-match on April 2nd when they head north to face the Virginia Cavaliers in Charlottesville at 10 a.m. before facing Maryland the following day at 11 a.m.
#16 GEORGIA TECH 4, #2 GEORGIA 3
DOUBLES
1. #8 Robinson/Basu (UGA) d. Anderson/Shosho (GT), 8-4
2. Miller/Potapova (GT) d. Hyndman/Subbotina (UGA), 8-6
3. Frazier/Schonfeldova (UGA) d. McCray/Silverio (GT), 8-6
Order of Finish: 1, 2, 3
SINGLES
1. #24 Kristi Miller (GT) d. #4 Shadisha Robinson (UGA), 2-6, 6-2, 7-6
2. #26 Natalie Frazier (UGA) d. Kelly Anderson (GT), 6-3, 6-4
3. #94 Dasha Potapova (GT) d. Kelley Hyndman (UGA), 2-6, 6-0, 6-3
4. Alison Silverio (GT) d. Caroline Basu (UGA), 6-7, 6-4, 6-2
5. Lyndsay Shosho (GT) d. Evgenia Subbotina (UGA), 6-2, 6-4
6. Jitka Schonfeldova (UGA) d. Whitney McCray (GT), 6-2, 6-0
Order of Finish: 2, 3, 1, 5, 4, 6
–GT–
