THE FLATS – Coming off the fall-opening tournament last weekend, Georgia Tech women’s tennis will send four Yellow Jackets to the College Ranked Spotlight, hosted by NC State, this weekend. The four-day tournament will run Sept. 21-24 and be played at the Cary Tennis Park.
A total of 17 schools will head to Raleigh, N.C., for the competitive tournament. Included in the field are Arizona State, Auburn, Central Florida, Duke, Georgia Tech, Miami, Michigan, North Carolina, NC State, Ohio State, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Texas A&M, USC and Virginia.
All teams in the field finished last season ranked in the top 40, including 14 ranked in the top 25 and five ranked in the top 10. The competitive field also features 13 singles players ranked in the ITA preseason top 25 released in early Sept., including five ranked in the nation’s top 10. Carol Lee leads Georgia Tech in the rankings, coming in at No. 9.
Action kicks off with the first doubles session on Thursday night, which will be played at the J.W. Isenhour Tennis Center and Dail Outdoor Tennis Stadium at NC State. Singles action gets underway at the Cary Tennis Park on Friday beginning at 9 a.m. Saturday will feature another round of singles action, while Sunday will host the championship rounds of both doubles and singles.
Each team could provide a maximum of four singles players and two doubles teams, with the intention of at least two preseason ranked singles players in the field. The tournament will be played with two singles compass draws of 32 players with a total of five matches per player. Main draw singles will be played best of three sets, while round-robin and backdraw matches will use a 10-point super tiebreak in lieu of a third set.
Representing Georgia Tech will be Kylie Bilchev (Ipswich, England), Alejandra Cruz (Mexico City, Mexico), Mahak Jain (Mumbai, India) and Lee (Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands).
ITA PRESEASON RANKINGS
No. 9 Carol Lee
No. 28 Kylie Bilchev
No. 81 Mahak Jain
No. 87 Alejandra Cruz
SCHEDULE OF PLAY
Thursday – 5 p.m.
Alejandra Cruz/Mahak Jain (GT) vs. Hibah Shaikh/Sara Ziodato (Virginia)
Carol Lee/Kylie Bilchev (GT) vs. Nicole Rivkin/Taya Pachkaleva (Texas)
Friday – 9 a.m.
A-1 Draw
Mahak Jain (GT) vs. Mary Stoiana (Texas A&M)
Carol Lee (GT) vs. Lily Jones (Michigan)
Kylie Bilchev (GT) vs. Alina Shcherbinina (Oklahoma)
Friday – 11 a.m.
A-2 Draw
Alejandra Cruz (GT) vs. Antonia Balzert (Miami)
Alexander-Tharpe Fund
The Alexander-Tharpe Fund is the fundraising arm of Georgia Tech athletics, providing scholarship, operations and facilities support for Georgia Tech’s 400-plus student-athletes. Be a part of developing Georgia Tech’s Everyday Champions and helping the Yellow Jackets compete for championships at the highest levels of college athletics by supporting the Annual Athletic Scholarship Fund, which directly provides scholarships for Georgia Tech student-athletes. To learn more about supporting the Yellow Jackets, visit atfund.org.
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