May 13, 2006
ATLANTA–Kristi Miller, Lyndsay Shosho and Alison Silverio captured the first three singles flights to lead sixth-ranked Georgia Tech to a 4-0 win over No. 45 Pennsylvania in the second round of the NCAA Atlanta Women’s Tennis Regional at Tech’s Bill Moore Tennis Center.
With the win, the Yellow Jackets advance for the second straight year to the NCAA Championships, which begin May 18 at Stanford. Tech (23-5), the No. 6 national seed, will face No. 11 seed Northwestern, a 4-1 winner over Purdue.
“Today, we picked it up where left off at the ACC Championships,” said Tech head coach Bryan Shelton, who has guided the Jackets to seven straight NCAA berths. “We were able to shake some of the rust off, and now we’re excited to go out to California to play and compete for a national championship, which is our ultimate goal.”
The match was initially delayed one hour by rain, and as the teams were just beginning doubles play, another shower forced play indoors.
Tech captured the doubles point with wins at No. 1 and No. 3. Tech’s top duo of Miller and Shosho defeated Yulia Rivelis and Julia Koulbitskaya, 8-1, and Silverio and Kacie Anson won at No. 3 doubles, also by an 8-1 margin. The Jackets’ Kelly Anderson and Whitney McCray were also leading on court two.
Silverio set the pace in singles with a dominating 6-0, 6-0 victory over Michelle Mitchell at the No. 3 flight. The junior from Louisville, Ohio lost just 22 points the entire match.
“We all got off to great starts, and then we just didn’t really ever give Penn any room to breathe,” said Silverio. “That was our goal today.”
Miller, the nation’s top ranked singles player, then downed Rivelis, 6-2, 6-2, at No. 1 singles before Shosho clinched the victory with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Koulbitskaya at the No. 2 flight.
Shosho said the delays that eventually forced the match indoors actually worked to Tech’s advantage.
“It was a little frustrating, warming up three times on two difference surfaces, but it was refreshing to play indoors today with a so many people here, right on top of the courts,” said Shosho. “It got so loud in here. The fans really supplied the energy, and we fed off that.”
Penn finished its season at 13-6.
#6 Georgia Tech 4, #45 Penn 0
Singles competition 1. #1 Kristi Miller (GT) def. Yulia Rivelis (PU) 6-2, 6-2 2. #63 Lyndsay Shosho (GT) def. Julia Koulbitskaya (PU) 6-3, 6-2 3. #65 Alison Silverio (GT) def. Michelle Mitchell (PU) 6-0, 6-0 4. #96 Tarryn Rudman (GT) vs. Raluca Ciochina (PU) 2-2, unfinished 5. #110 Kelly Anderson (GT) vs. CarolineStanislawski (PU) 0-0, unfinished
Doubles competition 1. #10 Kristi Miller/Lyndsay Shosho (GT) def. Yulia Rivelis/Julia Koulbitskaya (PU) 8-1 2. Kelly Anderson/Whitney McCray (GT) vs. Raluca Ciochina/Alexis Plukas (PU) 6-3, unfinished 3. Kacie Anson/Alison Silverio (GT) def. Caroline Stanislawski/Michelle Mitchell (PU) 8-1
Match Notes: Penn 13-6; National ranking #45 Georgia Tech 23-5; National ranking #6 Order of finish: Doubles (3,1); Singles (3,1,2) The match was moved indoor due to rain prior to doubles…Nos. 1-3 singles began after doubles, and Nos. 4-6 will go on as singles matches conclude.
