April 1, 2012
Atlanta – The 24th-ranked Georgia Tech women’s team (9-9, 3-4 ACC) dropped a tough 7-0 match to the third-ranked Duke Blue Devils (17-2, 6-0 ACC) on Sunday afternoon at the Bill Moore Tennis Center on Ace for the Cure Day.
The Yellow Jackets wore pink shirts during their match with the Blue Devils, and pink memorabilia was sold along with donations taken for Amy’s Angels which supports former Yellow Jacket softball player Amy Hosier who is battling breast cancer. The donations accepted put the total raised for Amy’s Angels at over $1,000 with fundraising going through the end of April.
“I give Duke a lot of credit, they played very well,” head coach Bryan Shelton said. “They’re a very solid team. They do some things well. When they’re on offense, they step up and hit their shots, make their plays. When they’re behind, they do a great job of defending the court and hustling. Those are the marks of championship teams and programs, they do all the dirty work to get themselves back in points and back in neutral. They’re really tough, it’s a very good team overall and I give them a ton of credit.”
The Blue Devils earned an early advantage by winning the doubles point. Duke’s 42nd-ranked pair of Ester Goldfield and Mary Clayton topped the Jackets’ 10th-ranked side of Jillian O’Neill and Alex Anghelescu, 8-4, on court one.
Duke’s team of Hanna Mar and Annie Mulholland earned the first team point of the day for the Blue Devils with an 8-4 win over the Yellow Jackets’ Viet Ha Ngo and Muriel Wacker on court three.
Lynn Blau and Elizabeth Kilborn fell behind 7-4, but rallied to upset Duke’s 25th-ranked team of Beatrice Capra and Rachel Kahan 9-7 on court two. It was Blau and Kilborn’s team-best 14th doubles win of the spring.
“I think Lynn and Liz did a good job today of playing a little more aggressively,” Shelton said. “Once they got down 4-1, they were able to stabilize things and hold serve and hang in there. By holding serve, they only stayed down a break all the way to 7-4. At 7-4, we held again and were finally able to break through. I think that’s what it takes against good teams and good players, is just standing there toe-to-toe and not ever giving in. I thought Liz and Lynn did a good job of keeping their composure and staying in there. When there was an opportunity, they took it. From there, I was glad to see them close it out with aggressive play at the net and also aggressive play at the baseline.”
Duke claimed the first point in singles when No. 86 Rachel Kahan downed Jacket freshman Jasmine Minor 6-1, 6-1 on court four. The Blue Devils extended their team lead to 3-0 when 92nd-ranked Monica Turewicz moved past Blau 6-2, 6-4 on court six.
Duke clinched the team victory when No. 112 Ester Goldfield defeated Tech’s No. 108 Elizabeth Kilborn 6-3, 6-3 on court two.
Court one featured a top-20 matchup between Duke’s second-ranked Beatrice Capra and Tech’s 17th-ranked Jillian O’Neill. Capra took the first set 6-0 and O’Neill forced a third set with a 6-2 second set win. Capra earned the win with a 6-0 third-set victory and put Duke up 5-0.
The Blue Devils’ Hanna Mar, ranked No. 51, took the first set from Tech’s No. 85 Caroline Lilley, 6-2, but had to fight for a 7-6(2) second set win to put Duke up 6-0 in the team score. Tech sophomore Alex Anghelescu won her first set over Duke’s 70th-ranked Mary Clayton, 6-4, but the Blue Devil junior won the second set 7-5 and the third-set tiebreak 10-4 to complete the Duke 7-0 victory.
“I think overall today, we were just lacking a little bit of oomph to put us over the top and really believe we could win this match after losing the doubles point,” Shelton said. “Against a top program, a top team like Duke you have to go after it with everything you’ve got, and you have to go after it for hours. It would’ve taken that type of effort to get through them today. We know in the future, when we play a team of this caliber, we have to be willing to go out there for three-plus hours in singles and battle for every single point because they’re going to make us play.”
Georgia Tech now heads on the road for two matches in Virginia next weekend. The Yellow Jackets will face No. 12 Virginia at 2 p.m. Friday, April 6 and No. 63 Virginia Tech at noon April 7.
Fans are encouraged to follow Georgia Tech women’s tennis on Twitter, @GT_WTEN, and like the Yellow Jackets on Facebook, GTWomensTennis, for an inside look at the program.
Match Results
#3 Duke at #24 Georgia Tech
April 1, 2012
#3 Duke 7, #24 Georgia Tech 0
Doubles (1, 3, 2)
1. #42 Ester Goldfield / Mary Clayton (DU) def. #10 Jillian O’Neill / Alex Anghelescu (GT), 8-4
2. Lynn Blau / Elizabeth Kilborn (GT) def. #25 Beatrice Capra / Rachel Kahan (DU), 9-7
3. Hanna Mar / Annie Mulholland (DU) def. Viet Ha Ngo / Muriel Wacker (GT), 8-4
Singles (4, 6, 2, 1, 3, 5)
1. #2 Beatrice Capra (DU) def. #17 Jillian O’Neill (GT), 6-0, 2-6, 6-0
2. #112 Ester Goldfield (DU) def. #108 Elizabeth Kilborn (GT), 6-3, 6-3
3. #51 Hanna Mar (DU) def. #85 Caroline Lilley (GT), 6-2, 7-6 (2)
4. #86 Rachel Kahan (DU) def. Jasmine Minor (GT), 6-1, 6-1
5. #70 Mary Clayton (DU) def. Alex Anghelescu (GT), 4-6, 7-5, 1-0 (4)
6. #92 Monica Turewicz (DU) def. Lynn Blau (GT), 6-2, 6-4
Match Notes:
Georgia Tech 9-9, 3-4 ACC, national ranking No. 24
Duke 17-2, 6-0 ACC, national ranking No. 3
— RamblinWreck.com —
