THE FLATS – Georgia Tech rebounded from dropping the doubles point to No. 11 Northwestern, winning five singles matches to sting the Wildcats, 5-2, Saturday afternoon. The Jackets won their third-straight match, improving to 3-3 on the young season.
DOUBLES ACTION: Northwestern took the early advantage, capturing two doubles matches to claim the 1-0 match lead. Valeriya Deminova and Victoria Flores took the first match to finish on court three, 6-2, over Caroline Pozo/Rheeya Doshi, but it wasn’t enough as the Wildcats took courts one and two for the doubles point.
SINGLES ACTION: Nami Otsuka quickly put Georgia Tech on the scoreboard, capturing her match on court three in straight-sets over Lee Or, 6-2, 6-3, to knot the match at 1-1. Gia Cohen gave Tech the go-ahead win, defeating Inci Ogut. After winning the first set, 6-2, Cohen raced out to a 5-2 lead in the second set. The freshman sealed her match, 6-4, to put the Jackets in the lead, 2-1.
Deminova cushioned Tech’s lead with a victory on court four over Pozo. The Yellow Jacket pocketed the first set, 6-2, and led 4-0 early in the second. Pozo won the next two games, but Deminova sealed a 6-2 second set win to hand Tech a 3-1 advantage. Northwestern put a point on the scoreboard, claiming court one to setup a 3-2 tally, but the rally was short-lived as Tech won the final two matches on the courts.
Tech clinched the win on court two as Jeanette Lin downed No. 72 Julie Byrne in a hard-fought match. Lin won the first set 7-5 and took a 3-0 lead in the second set. Byrne took the next game, but Lin went ahead 5-2 before Byrne held serve to make it 5-3. Lin served out the set, 6-3, to clinch the 4-2 victory for the Jackets. Flores rounded out singles play from court five, taking away a three-set triumph over Doshi. After dropping the first set to the Wildcat, Flores surrendered only four games in the next two sets to account for the final 5-2 Georgia Tech win.
QUOTABLE: “It was a great team effort today. I felt like our number three doubles team played extremely well, but Northwestern outplayed us at one and two in doubles. In singles, I thought we came out and put a great team effort in. Great tennis today by Nami [Otsuka], Valeriya [Deminova], Victoria [Flores], Jeanette [Lin] and Gia [Cohen]. They played extremely well against the No. 11 team in the country. We are pleased with how we played and now we get back to work on Tuesday to play the No. 1 team in the country next weekend at Georgia. That will be a huge test for us and we have to be ready for that.” – Head coach Rodney Harmon
UP NEXT: Georgia Tech travels to in-state rival and No. 1 Georgia for a Saturday match at 1 p.m. in Athens.
RESULTS
Doubles
1-No. 55 Clarissa Hand/Lee Or (NU) def. No. 44 Kenya Jones/Jeanette Lin (GT) 6-3
2-Julie Byrne/Hannah McColgan (NU) def. Nami Otsuka/Gia Cohen (GT) 6-4
3-Valeriya Deminova/Victoria Flores (GT) def. Caroline Pozo/Rheeya Doshi (NU) 6-2
Order of finish: 3, 1, 2
Singles
1-No. 59 Clarissa Hand (NU) def. No. 26 Kenya Jones (GT) 7-6 (2), 6-4
2-Jeanette Lin (GT) def. No. 72 Julie Byrne (NU) 7-5, 6-3
3-Nami Otsuka (GT) def. Lee Or (NU) 6-2, 6-3
4-Valeriya Deminova (GT) def. Caroline Pozo (NU) 6-2, 6-2
5-Victoria Flores (GT) def. Rheeya Doshi (NU) 4-6, 6-1, 6-3
6-Gia Cohen (GT) def. Inci Ogut (NU) 6-2, 6-4
Order of finish: 3,6,4,1,2,5
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