March 24, 2007
ATLANTA – Christy Striplin was one of five Yellow Jackets to earn first-set wins in singles play as No. 6 Georgia Tech (12-4, 3-1 ACC) earned a 5-2 win over No. 9 Miami (12-3, 3-1 ACC) Saturday afternoon at the Bill Moore Tennis Center.
After losing the doubles point, Georgia Tech responded by winning five of the six first sets in singles play before 99th-ranked Amanda Craddock tied the match at 1-1 when she made quick work of Romy Farah at the third singles slot, 6-3, 6-1. No. 121 Amanda McDowell followed with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Gina Sabatino in the No. 4 position to give Tech the 2-1 match lead.
“[Amanda] was one of the most under-rated players, coming into college, that I’ve seen in a long time,” said Georgia Tech head coach Bryan Shelton. “But she’s really playing well for us.”
Tarryn Rudman, ranked No. 75 in the nation in singles, pushed the score to 3-1 with a 6-3, 6-2 victory against Claudia Wasilewski at the No. 6 spot before 44th-ranked Striplin clinched match point with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Caren Seenauth at the fifth singles position.
“It was a great team win. I was glad to see us step and take control of the singles right away, after losing the doubles point,” said Shelton. “The bottom of the lineup really came through for us. We have a lot of depth, and that’s certainly our strength. We like we’re as strong as any team in the country at four through six. We’re strong at the top, too – Kristi played a good match against the No. 1 player in the country.”
Miami’s 24th-ranked duo of Audra Cohen and Seenauth gave the Hurricanes an early 1-0 lead when they clinched the doubles point with a 9-7 victory over Tech’s Alison Silverio and Amanda Craddock at the No. 2 doubles position.
The Jackets’ eighth-ranked tandem of Kristi Miller and Whitney McCray easily defeated Miami’s 22nd-ranked Audrey Banada and Farah, 8-3, at the top doubles spot, but Sabatino and Laura Vallverdu stopped the Jackets’ duo of Rudman and Kirsten Flower, 8-4, to set up the second doubles line for the deciding point.
Top-ranked Cohen won the battle top-10’s, stopping the Yellow Jackets’ seventh-ranked Miller, 6-4, 6-2, at the top singles slot to account for the Hurricane’s second point before 116th-ranked Silverio won a 14-12 third set super tiebreaker over No. 38 Banada to close out the match.
“We have another tough match tomorrow against Florida State with a short turnaround, so it was good to get this win today without any three-set matches,” added Shelton.
The Yellow Jackets will return to action Sunday morning when they host the Florida State Seminoles at 10 a.m. in the first half of a doubleheader with the Georgia Tech men’s tennis team.
Tennis Match ResultsMiami vs Georgia TechMar 24, 2007 at Atlanta, Ga.
#6 Georgia Tech 5, #9 Miami 2
Singles competition1. #1 Audra Cohen (UM) def. #7 Kristi Miller (GT) 6-4, 6-22. #116 Alison Silverio (GT) def. #38 Audrey Banada (UM) 6-2, 6-7 (8-10), 1-0 (14-12)3. #99 Amanda Craddock (GT) def. Romy Farah (UM) 6-3, 6-14. #121 Amanda McDowell (GT) def. Gina Sabatino (UM) 6-2, 6-25. #44 Christy Striplin (GT) def. Caren Seenauth (UM) 6-4, 6-26. #75 Tarryn Rudman (GT) def. Claudia Wasilewski (UM) 6-3, 6-2
Doubles competition1. #8 Whitney McCray/ Miller (GT) def. #22 Banada/ Farah (UM) 8-32. #24 Cohen/ Seenauth (UM) def. Craddock/ Silverio (GT) 9-73. Sabatino/Laura Vallverdu (UM) def. Kirsten Flower/ Rudman (GT) 8-4
Match Notes:Miami 12-3, 3-1 ACC; National ranking #9Georgia Tech 12-4, 3-1 ACC; National ranking #6Order of finish: Doubles (1,3,2); Singles (3,4,6,5,1,2)
