Oct. 4, 2007
PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. – Amanda McDowell, Maya Johansson and Whitney McCray all posted singles wins and the Yellow Jacket tandem of McCray and five-time All-American Kristi Miller advanced to the quarterfinals of the doubles draw on day one of competition in the main draw at the ITA All-American Championships, which is being played at the Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades, Calif.
“It was another good day, another tough tennis day,” Georgia Tech head coach Bryan Shelton said. “For us to have three singles players in the round of 16 and for our five-time All-American not to be one of them is a good sign. Kristi will find her form soon after coming back off injury – that much I am sure of.
“Overall it was just an exciting day, and we’re looking forward to tomorrow.”
Two seeded singles players fell at the hands of Yellow Jackets on the first day of main draw competition, as Yellow Jacket junior McDowell knocked off seventh-seeded Georgia Rose of Northwestern, 6-3, 6-0, and Johansson stopped Stanford’s Celia Durkin, the No. 8 seed, 6-4, 5-4, ret.
Both McDowell and Johansson have posted perfect singles records to open the 2007-08 campaign, as Johansson is 10-0 in her first season on the Flats while McDowell has begun her sophomore year on a 7-0 run.
The big winner on the day for the Yellow Jackets was McCray, who teamed with Miller to down Pepperdine’s tandem of Sylvia Kosakowski and Bianca Dulgheru, 8-5, before stopping Arkansas’ Ela Kaluder, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 to advance to the round of 16 in singles.
Miller and McCray will face Northwestern’s doubles team of Lauren Liu and Samantha Murray in the quarterfinals Friday morning while singles play begins in the early afternoon. McCray will square off with Clemson’s Ani Mijacka, Johansson will meet Lenka Broosova of Baylor and McDowell faces Florida’s Csilla Borsanyi in the round of 16.
The Oct.4-7 main draw of the ITA All-American Championships was preceded by two sets of qualifying tournaments. The 64-player, 32 doubles team prequalifying tournament was held last weekend, with eight players and four doubles teams advancing from there to the Oct. 2-3 64-player qualifying tournament at Riviera (where eight players and four doubles teams advanced 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.
(R32) Amanda McDowell (GT) def. No. 7 Georgia Rose (Northwestern), 6-3, 6-0(R32) Yasmin Schnack (UCLA) def. No. 5 Kristi Miller (GT), 6-4, 6-2(R32) Maya Johansson (GT) def. No. 8 Celia Durkin (Stanford), 6-4, 5-4, ret.(R32) Whitney McCray (GT) def. Ela Kaluder (Arkansas), 4-6, 6-3, 6-2
(R16) No. 3 Miller/McCray (GT) def. Sylvia Kosakowski/Bianca Dulgheru (Pepperdine), 8-5
