Oct. 25, 2008
ATHENS, Ga. – Georgia Tech’s Christy Striplin, Noelle Hickey and Irina Falconi each one a pair of matches Saturday to advance to the ITA South Regional Round of 16 at the University of Georgia’s Dan Magill Tennis Complex.
“I was really happy at today’s results,” head coach Bryan Shelton said. “It was a very long day and I was just really proud of our effort. I felt good about Christy, Noelle and Irina’s play. They proved to be very mentally tough.”
Striplin, the tournament’s No. 7 seed, opened the day with a 6-2, 6-0 win over Taylor Morgan of Samford. The senior followed up her first round win by making quick work of Miami’s Claire Wailewski, 6-1, 6-0, to earn a spot in the round of 16.
Falconi, who is the No. 2 seed, defeated Soledad Podlipnik of Mississippi in the first round by the score of 6-1, 6-1. In her second round match, the freshman continued to look strong when she beat Rachel Pye of Florida A&M, 6-1, 6-4. Hickey, a sophomore from Hackensack, N.J., registered straight-set wins over Radka Ferancova of Mississippi State and Yvette Hyndman of Georgia to also advance.
“Noelle played some of her best tennis since coming to Tech,” Shelton said. “She played well in practice all week and it showed today. She beat a very good player from Georgia, who played at the top spot in the lineup last season.”
Striplin is scheduled to face Alex Haney of Auburn, Falconi will compete against Florida’s Marrit Boonstra and Hickey will play Lauren Macfarlane of Florida State in the round of 16.
“Tomorrow can be a tremendous day for Georgia Tech women’s tennis,” Shelton added. “Our goal is to win matches and qualify for the National Indoors.”
Sophomore Sasha Krupina dropped her opening round match to the tournament’s No. 1 seed Chelsey Gullickson of Georgia, 6-1, 6-1. Freshmen Lynn Blau and Viet Ha Ngo also lost their opening round matches.
Play is scheduled to begin Sunday at 10:00 a.m. with two rounds of singles prior to the doubles semifinal round. For more information, please click here.
– RamblinWreck.com –
Georgia Tech Day Two Results
Singles
R64: (1) Chelsey Gullickson (UGA) def. Sasha Krupina (GaTech), 6-1, 6-1
R64: Hillary Davis (GaTech) def. Elna de Villiers (MSU), 6-7, 6-1, 6-3
R64: (3) Katie Rybakova (FSU) def. Lynn Blau (GaTech), 6-0, 6-2
R64: (7) Christy Striplin (GaTech) def. Taylor Morgan (Sam), 6-2, 6-0
R64: Noelle Hickey (GaTech) def. Radka Ferancova (MSU), 6-1, 6-2
R64: Diana Nakic (GaSt) def. Viet Ha Ngo (GaTech), 6-1, 7-5
R64: (2) Irina Falconi (GaTech) def. Soledad Podlipnik (Miss), 6-1, 6-1
R32: (5) Bianca Eichkorn def. Hillary Davis (GaTech), 6-1, 6-1
R32: (7) Christy Striplin (GaTech) def. Claudia Wasilewski (Miami), 6-1, 6-0
R32: Noelle Hickey (GaTech) def. Yvette Hyndman (UGA), 7-5, 6-1
R32: (2) Irina Falconi (GaTech) def. Rachel Pye (FAMU), 6-1, 6-4
