Sept. 30, 2007
LOS ANGELES – Freshman Maya Johansson and the doubles tandem of Noelle Hickey and Christy Striplin have advanced to the qualifying draw of the 2007 ITA All-American Championships after earning victories on the final day of the prequalifying tournament, which was played at UCLA over the weekend.
Johansson made quick work of Rice’s Julie Chao, winning 6-1, 6-3 to advance to the qualifying draw of singles, which is scheduled to begin Tuesday at the Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades, Calif. Joining her in that draw will be sophomores Kirsten Flower and Amanda McDowell, as well as Striplin and senior Whitney McCray. Kristi Miller, ranked fifth in the nation in singles, has received a bye to the main draw.
“Maya played like a champ today, getting through to the next round which is all that we could ask for,” head coach Bryan Shelton said. “Noelle played very well as well in singles. We saw some incredible tennis from her all weekend, and some good things to get fired up about.”
Hickey saw her run in the singles bracket come to an end with a three-set loss to Arkansas’ Aurelija Miseviciute on Sunday, but advanced to the qualifying draw in doubles with an 8-3 victory over Kanykey Koichumanova and Canna Furuta of CS Northridge before she and Striplin knocked off Kentucky’s Carolina Escamila and Sarah Woestmann, 9-7
“All in all, it was a good day, and we will be ready to go on Tuesday,” Shelton added.
The Oct.4-7 main draw of the ITA All-American Championships is preceded by two sets of qualifying tournaments. The 64-player, 32 doubles team prequalifying tournament was held over the weekend, with eight players and four doubles teams will advance from there to the Oct. 2-3 64-player qualifying tournament at Riviera (where eight players and four doubles teams will advance to the main draw).
The famous Riviera Tennis Club has played host to this event since 1988 (it also hosted an intercollegiate women’s championship from 1986-88).
For more information on the 2007 Riviera/ITA All-American Championships, go to: http://itatennis.com/Riviera07/main.htm.
(R64) Noelle Hickey (GT) def. Becky Bernhard (UC Irvine), 6-1, 6-4(R32) Hickey (GT) def. No. 9-16 Klara Jagasova (Texas-Arlington), 6-1, 6-0(R16) Aurelija Miseviciute (Arkansas) def. Hickey (GT), 6-2, 3-6, 7-5
(R64) Maya Johansson (GT) def. Lenore Lazaroui (Wichita St.), 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 (R32) Johansson (GT) def. Samantha Van Der Drift (Texas Tech), 6-3, 6-1 (R16) Johansson (GT) def. Julie Chao (Rice), 6-1, 6-3 Johansson advances to the Qualifying Draw
(R32) No. 1 Johansson/Kirsten Flower (GT) received bye (R16) Brittany Alalock/Steffi Wong (Cal Poly) def. No. 1 Johansson/Flower (GT), 8-6
(R32) Hickey/Christy Striplin (GT) def. No. 5-8 Luba Schifris/Katrina Zheltova (Sacramento St.), 8-2 (R16) Hickey/Striplin (GT) vs. Kanykey Koichumanova/Canna Furuta (CS Northridge), 8-3 (QF) Hickey/Striplin (GT) def. Carolina Escamila/Sarah Woestmann (Kentucky), 9-7 Hickey/Striplin advance to the Qualifying Draw
(R32) Amanda McDowell/Sasha Krupina (GT) def. Anastassia Lyssenko/Aileen Tsan (Sacramento St.), 8-6 (R16) No. 5-8 Lazaroui/Florenta Hanish (Wichita St.) def. McDowell/Krupina (GT), 9-7
