CHICAGO, Ill. – After winning a gritty doubles point, No. 22 Georgia Tech women’s tennis captured three singles matches to complete the 4-1 victory over No. 12 Ohio State on the opening day of ITA National Team Indoor Championships Friday afternoon. The round of 16 win advanced the Yellow Jackets into the quarterfinals and moved their season record to 9-2 overall.
DOUBLES ACTION: The Yellow Jackets took a 1-0 match lead winning a challenging doubles point with victories on courts one and three. Ohio State took the early edge, claiming court two as Shiori Fukuda and Irina Cantos Siemers defeated Monika Dedaj and Rosie Garcia Gross, 6-2. But Gia Cohen and Nami Otsuka evened the playing field with a victory on court three minutes later. Holding a 4-2 lead, the Yellow Jacket tandem pushed their lead out to 5-3 and closed out the win over Kathleen Jones and Danielle Wolf, 6-3, leaving the doubles point to be decided on court one.
The top court saw a battle between Tech’s No. 37 Kenya Jones and Victoria Flores against Kolie Allen and Isabelle Boulais. After the tandems tossed the early lead back-and-forth, Tech broke the Buckeyes to take a 4-3 lead. But the advantage was short-lived as the Buckeyes drew the match to 4-all. The Yellow Jackets won the next two games to clinch the doubles point with a 6-4 decision.
SINGLES ACTION: Playing at the top seed, No. 60 Jones handed the Jackets a 2-0 match lead, winning a straight-set decision over No. 8 Fukuda. Jones dropped only one game en route to a 6-1 first set and opened the second set with a 3-0 advantage. Fukuda battled back, knotting the set at 3-3, and claimed a 4-3 edge, but Jones rattled off the next three games to take the match, 6-1, 6-4. The Buckeyes got on the scoreboard with a decision on court four. Otsuka raced out with a 4-1 lead over Allen, but the Buckeye fought back to tie the set at 5-5. Allen took the first set 7-5, and pocketed the second set, 6-2, to setup a 2-1 match score.
Nadia Gizdova cushioned Tech’s lead from court six, taking a three-set win over Jones. After Jones took the first set, 6-2, and the opponents stood tied at 3-3 in the second, Gizdova won the next three games to force a deciding third set. The senior opened the final set with a 4-0 lead and recorded the win, capturing the third set, 6-1, to put Tech one win away from the quarterfinals.
All eyes turned to court two where No. 49 Flores led No. 99 Wolf by one set, 6-3, and held match point at 5-4 in the second set. But Wolf fought off three match points to knot the set at 5-5 and took a 6-5 edge. After Flores won the next game, the opponents drew the second set down to a tiebreak. Flores held another match point at 6-5, but Wolf moved the tiebreak to 6-all before Flores won the next two for an 8-6 tiebreak win, clinching the match for Tech at 4-1.
“I’m really excited for the way we played today,” said head coach Rodney Harmon. “Ohio State has a great team and they’ve had a great start to their spring season, so we knew it was going to be a really tough match. I thought our team played really well in doubles and Kenya [Jones], Victoria [Flores] and Nadia [Gizdova] really came through big for us in singles. We have another tough match tomorrow against Stanford, but we’re excited to be in the quarterfinals of ITA National Indoors and look forward to playing tomorrow.”
UP NEXT: Georgia Tech moves into the quarterfinals and will face top-seeded Stanford on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. EST.
RESULTS
Doubles
1-No. 37 Kenya Jones/Victoria Flores (GT) def. Kolie Allen/Isabelle Boulais (OSU) 6-4
2-Shiori Fukuda/Irina Cantos Siemers (OSU) def. Monika Dedaj/Rosie Garcia Gross (GT) 6-2
3-Gia Cohen/Nami Otsuka (GT) def. Kathleen Jones/Danielle Wolf (OSU) 6-3
Order of finish: 2,3,1
Singles
1-No. 60 Kenya Jones (GT) def. No. 8 Shiori Fukuda (OSU) 6-1, 6-4
2-No. 49 Victoria Flores (GT) def. No. 99 Danielle Wolf (OSU) 6-3, 7-6 (6)
3-No. 93 Gia Cohen (GT) vs. Isabelle Boulias (OSU) 4-6, 6-4, 3-3, DNF
4-Kolie Allen (OSU) def. Nami Otsuka (GT) 7-5, 6-2
5-Rosie Garcia Gross (GT) vs. No. 62 Irina Cantos Siemers (OSU) 4-6, 5-5, DNF
6-Nadia Gizdova (GT) def. Kathleen Jones (OSU) 2-6, 6-3, 6-1
Order of finish: 1,4,6,2
Alexander-Tharpe Fund
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