March 1, 2008
ATLANTA – Freshman Noelle Hickey keyed a Yellow Jacket comeback to lead No. 2 Georgia Tech (9-2) to a 5-2 win against No. 16 Notre Dame (7-7) Saturday afternoon in South Bend, Ind.
Hickey began the afternoon by teaming with Christy Striplin to earn Tech’s lone doubles win on the afternoon, an 8-7 (4) tiebreaker victory at the No. 2 spot against the Irish’s Kali Krisik and Kristen Rafael. She then tied the match at 1-1 when she breezed to a 6-1, 6-1 win over Krisik at the No. 5 singles position.
No. 30 Kirsten Flower pushed the score to 2-1 with a 6-4, 6-2 victory against Cosmina Ciobanu at the No. 3 spot before fourth-ranked Amanda McDowell knocked off the Irish’s Brook Buck, 6-1, 6-3, at No. 2 singles.
Nineteenth-ranked Maya Johansson clinched the match for Georgia Tech by stopping Rafael, 6-3, 6-4, at the No. 6 position, and No. 6 Kristi Miller capped the Yellow Jacket scoring with a 6-3, 6-4 win over No. 59 Kelcy Tefft at the top of the singles lineup.
Notre Dame took an early 1-0 lead when the Irish’s third-ranked doubles tandem of Buck and Tefft stopped Tech’s 19th-ranked Miller and Whitney McCray, 8-2, and No. 45 Ciobanu and Colleen Rielley downed Flower and Sasha Krupina, 8-4.
The Irish’s lone singles win came at the end of the match, when Rielley stopped Striplin, 6-2, 7-6 (3), at the No. 4 singles position.
Georgia Tech will return to Atlanta to host No. 14 Vanderbilt Wednesday at the Bill Moore Tennis Center.
Final Tennis ResultsGeorgia Tech vs. Notre DameMarch 1, 2008 at Notre Dame, Ind.
GEORGIA TECH 5, NOTRE DAME 2
SINGLES 1. No. 6 Kristi Miller (GT) def. No. 59 Kelcy Tefft (ND), 6-3, 6-4 2. No. 4 Amanda McDowell (GT) def. Brook Buck (ND), 6-1, 6-3 3. No. 30 Kirsten Flower (GT) def. Cosmina Ciobanu (ND), 6-4, 6-2 4. Colleen Rielley (ND) def. No. 84 Christy Striplin (GT), 6-2, 7-6 (3) 5. No. 85 Noelle Hickey (GT) def. Kali Krisik (ND), 6-1, 6-1 6. No. 19 Maya Johansson (GT) def. Kristen Rafael (ND), 6-3, 6-4
DOUBLES 1. No. 3 Buck/Tefft (ND) def. No. 19 Miller/Whitney McCray (GT), 8-2 2. Hickey/Striplin (GT) def. Krisik/Rafael (ND), 8-7 (4) 3. No. 45 Ciobanu/Rielley (ND) def. Flower/Sasha Krupina (GT), 8-4
MATCH NOTES Georgia Tech 9-2; National Ranking #2 Notre Dame 7-7; National Ranking #16 Order of finish: Doubles (3,1,2); Singles (5,3,2,6,1,4)
