THE FLATS – No. 6 Georgia Tech dropped its first ACC match of the season on Wednesday afternoon, falling to No. 31 Miami, 4-3. The Hurricanes secured the match behind the doubles point and three singles wins.
DOUBLES ACTION: Miami captured the doubles point with wins on courts two and three to enter singles play with a 1-0 match lead. Court three wrapped up first with Miami’s Dominika Paterova and Ulyana Shirokova winning break point to take a 4-3 lead. The Hurricanes won the final two points to take the match, 6-3. Georgia Tech’s fourth-ranked duo of Paige Hourigan and Kenya Jones won at the top seed to even doubles play. The pair raced out to a 3-0 lead over Sofia Sewing/Estela Perez-Somaribba before the Hurricanes got on the scoreboard. With the Jackets leading 5-3, Miami broke to move the tally to 5-4, but Tech won the match 6-4 to leave the doubles point to be decided on court two.
Nami Otsuka and Victoria Flores opened with a 2-1 lead at the No. 2 spot against Sinead Lohan/Ana Madcur, but Miami took the next three games to grab a 4-2 lead. The Jackets answered winning the next two games to even the match at 4-all, but Miami broke to take a 5-4 lead and held serve to win 6-4 and clinch the doubles point.
SINGLES ACTION: The Jackets got back on the winning track as Jones picked up a straight-set, 6-4, 6-2, win over Madcur at No. 3 to tie the match at 1-all. Jones trailed in the first set 3-2 before grabbing four of the next five points to win the first set, 6-4. The sophomore cruised in the second set, 6-2, to put the Jackets on the scoreboard. Renaud gave Tech its first lead of the match, pocketing a 6-2, 7-5 victory over No. 108 Lohan at No. 2. The senior raced through the first set, 6-2, but found an early deficit in the second set, 4-2. Renaud broke Lohan to setup a 4-3 tally, igniting a 7-5 comeback to secure the match and give Tech a 2-1 match lead.
The lead was short-lived as Miami walked away with a 6-4, 7-5 win at the five seed, evening the match at 2-apiece. Facing Shirokova at No. 6, Flores rebounded from dropping the first set to win the second, 6-3. But Shirokova pulled out with a 3-0 lead in the third set and took the match 6-3, handing Miami a 3-2 lead. Within seconds, Otsuka wrapped up her match on court four to put the match at 3-3.
Otsuka pocketed the first set over Sewing, 6-3, and grabbed a 4-2 second set lead. But Sewing won the next three games to take a 5-4 lead and held on for the second set, 8-6, in the tiebreak to force a third set. Otsuka raced out to a 4-1 third set lead and held for a 6-2 win to secure her match.
All eyes turned to court one where No. 25 Hourigan was battling No. 18 Perez-Somarriba. After dropping the first set 6-3, the senior battled to win a 7-5 second set to force a deciding third set. The foes remained on serve through 2-1 in the third before a pair of breaks moved the match to 3-2. Somarriba broke Hourigan again to take a 4-2 lead and closed out the match 6-2 to clinch the win for Miami.
QUOTABLE: “It was a tough match today, well done by Miami. I felt like in a lot of places this is really one of the first times we started to play better. We haven’t been playing as well as I would like in the last couple of matches, so I felt like in some spots we played better and made some progress. Obviously we have things to continue to work on. We’re going to get back to work before we head out to Texas for a pair of matches. We are excited about more opportunities.” – Head Coach Rodney Harmon
UP NEXT: The Jackets return to the road for a pair of matches in Lubbock, Texas. Tech opens with a neutral meeting against Cornell on March 17 before facing No. 9 Texas Tech on Sunday. Both matches are slated to begin at 1 p.m.
No. 6 GEORGIA TECH vs. No. 31 MIAMI RESULTS
Match Score: Miami 4, Georgia Tech 3
DOUBLES
1. No. 4 Paige Hourigan/Kenya Jones (GT) def. Sofia Sewing/E. Perez-Somarriba (MIA) 6-4
2. Sinead Lohan/Ana Madcur (MIA) def. Nami Otsuka/Victoria Flores (GT) 6-4
3. Dominika Paterova/Ulyana Shirokova (MIA) def. Johnnise Renaud/Nadia Gizdova (GT) 6-3
Order of finish: 3, 1, 2
SINGLES
1. No. 18 Estela Perez-Somarriba (MIA) def. No. 25 Paige Hourigan (GT) 6-3, 5-7, 6-2
2. Johnnise Renaud (GT) def. No. 108 Sinead Lohan (MIA) 6-2, 7-5
3. Kenya Jones (GT) def. Ana Madcur (MIA) 6-4, 6-2
4. Nami Otsuka (GT) def. Sofia Sewing (MIA) 6-3, 6-7 (6-8), 6-2
5. Daniella Roldan (MIA) def. Nadia Gizdova (GT) 6-4, 7-5
6. Ulyana Shirokova (MIA) def. Victoria Flores (GT) 6-4, 3-6, 6-2
Order of finish: 3, 2, 5, 6, 4, 1
Records: Georgia Tech (9-3, 3-1 ACC); Miami (8-3, 4-0 ACC)
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