April 18, 2008
ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, Fla. – Kristi Miller dropped just four games en route to a 6-1, 6-3 singles win to lead top-seeded Georgia Tech to a 4-0 victory over No. 8-seed NC State Friday at Sanlando Park in Altamonte Springs, Fla. With the win, the Yellow Jackets earn a berth in Saturday’s semifinals at the ACC Women’s Tennis Championships, and will face Clemson at 10 a.m. after the Tigers knocked off North Carolina Friday morning. Live stats will be available at Ramblinwreck.com.
The Jackets swept all three doubles matches when Noelle Hickey and Whitney McCray dropped Daria Petrovic and Berkeley Brock, 8-5, and Tech’s No. 1 and No. 3 doubles tandems notched back-to-back 8-6 victories within a minute of each other.
“We really got off to a good start today, and it was the way that we needed to start this tournament,” said Georgia Tech head coach Bryan Shelton. “We have to give it to NC State though because they really fought hard and got us ready to play a talented Clemson team tomorrow.”
Miller, the 2008 ACC Player of the Year, pushed the score to 2-0 the Jackets’ favor with a win atop the singles lineup before fourth-ranked Amanda McDowell breezed to a 6-3, 6-0 victory over Brock at the No. 2 singles spot.
No. 40 Maya Johansson finished off the 4-0 sweep for the Jackets by stopping Neils Barringer at No. 6 singles, 6-4, 6-2.
Tech and Clemson met in Atlanta during the regular season, with the Yellow Jackets pulling out an exciting 6-1 win over the Tigers. One of the most thrilling matches of the season occurred during that match, as Miller, ranked sixth in the nation at the time, knocked off the country’s top-ranked singles player, Ani Mijacika, with a 6-4, 6-7 (7), 7-6 (6) victory. The two teams will meet for the 30th time in history Saturday morning.
Tennis Match ResultsNC State vs Georgia TechApr 18, 2008 at Altamonte Springs, Fla.
#2 Georgia Tech 4, #36 NC State 0
Singles competition 1. #5 Kristi Miller (GT) def. Daria Petrovic (NCSU) 6-1, 6-3 2. #4 Amanda McDowell (GT) def. Berkeley Brock (NCSU) 6-3, 6-0 3. #39 Whitney McCray (GT) vs. Lenka Hojckova (NCSU) 7-5, 2-1, unfinished 4. #124 Christy Striplin (GT) vs. Julia Roach (NCSU) 6-1, 4-1, unfinished 5. #74 Kirsten Flower (GT) vs. Catherine Grotz (NCSU) 7-5, 2-3, unfinished 6. #40 Maya Johansson (GT) def. Neils Barringer (NCSU) 6-4, 6-2
Doubles competition 1. Miller/Sasha Krupina (GT) def. Grotz/Hojckova (NCSU) 8-6 2. Noelle Hickey/McCray (GT) def. Petrovic/Brock (NCSU) 8-5 3. Striplin/Flower (GT) def. Roach/Kristen Bleakley (NCSU) 8-5
Match Notes: NC State 13-10; National ranking #36 Georgia Tech 19-4; National ranking #2 Order of finish: Doubles (2,1,3); Singles (1,2,6)
