May 12, 2001
FRESNO, Calif.– The 46th-ranked Georgia Tech women’s tennis team fell to the No. 30 UCLA Bruins, 4-3, in the first round of the NCAA Women’s Tennis Championships at the Spalding G. Wathen Tennis Center on the campus of Fresno State Saturday afternoon.
Georgia Tech opened the match in promising fashion, winning the doubles point. After UCLA took the first doubles match, with Mariko Fritz-Krockow and Sara Walker defeating Laura Ozolins and Jaime Wong at No. 2 doubles, the Yellow Jackets rallied to win the point with victories at the No. 1 and No. 3 positions. Senior Bobbi Guthrie, Tech’s all-time leader in doubles victories, and sophomore Mysti Morris knocked off their third ranked opponent of the year, defeating 18th-ranked Lauren Fisher and Petya Marinova, 8-5, at No. 1 doubles. Sophomore Mason Miller and freshman Fallon Koon clinched the doubles point with an 8-4 victory over Jennifer Donahue and Catherine Hawley at No. 3.
Down 1-0 to start singles play, UCLA evened the match when 18th-ranked Walker defeated Debbie Reynolds, 6-2, 6-0, at No. 1 singles. Ozolins won her eighth consecutive singles match, topping Donahue 6-1, 6-4, at No. 6 singles to give Georgia Tech a slight 2-1 edge. But UCLA once again pulled even with Fritz-Krockow’s 6-3, 6-3 win over Miller at No. 5. Wong, an All-ACC selection for the second year in a row, tied Tech’s school record with 30 singles wins in a season when she beat Fisher, 6-4, 6-2, at No. 3 singles and gave Tech a 3-2 advantage. The Bruins, however, claimed the victory when they won at No. 2 and No. 4 singles. No. 88 Hawley defeated Morris 6-2, 6-3, at No. 2 and Marinova clinched the victory for UCLA when she beat Guthrie, 6-3, 6-4, at No. 4.
Georgia Tech, which advanced to the NCAA Championships for the second time in history after making its first appearance last year, finished the season with an 11-12 record. The Yellow Jackets were knocked out of the Championships by UCLA for the second year in a row, the Bruins defeated Georgia Tech 6-0 in the second round of the 2000 NCAA Championships in Los Angeles. UCLA improved to 8-17 and will play the winner of Saturday afternoon?s match between No. 11 Fresno State and Cal State Northridge on Sunday.
No. 30 UCLA 4, No. 46 Georgia Tech 3Singles:1. No. 18 Sara Walker (UCLA) def. Debbie Reynolds (GT) 6-2, 6-02. No. 88 Catherine Hawley (UCLA) def. Mysti Morris (GT) 6-2, 6-33. Jaime Wong (GT) def. Lauren Fisher (UCLA) 6-4, 6-24. Petya Marinova (UCLA) def. Bobbi Guthrie (GT) 6-3, 6-45. Mariko Fritz-Krockow (UCLA) def. Mason Miller (GT) 6-3, 6-36. Laura Ozolins (GT) def. Jennifer Donahue (UCLA) 6-1, 6-4
Doubles: 1. Morris/Guthrie (GT) def. No. 18 Fisher/Marinova (UCLA) 8-5 2. Fritz-Krockow/Walker (UCLA) def. Ozolins/Wong (GT) 8-4 3. M. Miller/Fallon Koon (GT) def. Donahue/Hawley (UCLA) 8-4
