April 10, 2004
DURHAM, NC – Led by No. 9 Amanda Johnson, the fourth-ranked Duke women’s tennis team (17-2, 7-0 ACC) collected a 6-1 victory over 39th-ranked Georgia Tech (11-8, 4-4 ACC) on Saturday at the Ambler Tennis Stadium.
Duke jumped out to an early lead as the Blue Devils swept all three doubles matches to go up 1-0. In the No. 2 position, Duke’s Saras Arasu and Johnson teamed to cruise to an 8-3 win over Maria Neito and Lindsay Shosho and the Blue Devil duo of Katie Blaszak and Jennifer Zika downed Alison Siverio and Kacie Anson, 8-4, at No. 3 to clinch the doubles point. Julia Smith and Tory Zawacki pulled out a 9-7 win over Kelly Anderson and Sekita Grant in the top position to round out doubles play.
Johnson easily defeated Tech’s 57th-ranked Shosho, 6-1, 6-0, in less than an hour to give the Blue Devils a 2-0 advantage in the match. Georgia Tech made the score 2-1 as 72nd-ranked Anderson knocked off 92nd-ranked Zika from Duke, 6-4, 6-2.
The Blue Devils responded by winning at the fourth and fifth positions within less than five minutes of each other to clinch the match. At No. 4, Smith defeated Silverio, 6-3, 6-4, and 110th-ranked Arasu notched a 7-5, 6-2 win over Grant for the 4-2 lead.
In the other two matches, Duke freshman Kristin Cargill lost the first set at the sixth slot 6-1 and was down 5-2 in the second set before making a comeback to win the second, 7-5. Then in a third set tiebreaker, Cargill won 10-4 over Nieto. At the third position, Zawacki pulled out a 6-4, 7-5 win over Stauss.
The Jackets will return to action at the ACC Tournament next week.
Duke 6, Georgia Tech 1
Doubles 1. Tory Zawacki/Julia Smith (DU) d. Kelly Anderson/Sekita Grant (GT) 9-7 2. Amanda Johnson/Saras Arasu (DU) d. Maria Nieto/Lyndsay Shosho (GT) 8-3 3. Katie Blaszak/Jennifer Zika (DU) d. Alison Silverio/Kacie Anson (GT) 8-4 Order of finish: 2, 3, 1
Singles 1. #9 Amanda Johnson (DU) d. #57 Lyndsay Shosho (GT) 6-1, 6-0 2. #72 Kelly Anderson (GT) d. #92 Jennifer Zika (DU) 6-4, 6-2 3. Tory Zawacki (DU) d. Lindsey Stauss (GT) 6-4, 7-5 4. Julia Smith (DU) d. Alison Silverio (GT) 6-3, 6-4 5. #110 Saras Arasu (DU) d. Sekita Grant (GT) 7-5, 6-2 6. Kristin Cargill (DU) d. Maria Nieto (GT) 1-6, 7-5, 10-4 Order of finish: 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 3
