Nov. 8, 2002
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Led by unbeaten singles and doubles records from senior Jaime Wong and Mysti Morris along with sophomore Catherine Gunn, the Georgia Tech women’s tennis team turned in a solid opening day the Midwest Blast, which is being held at the Atkins Tennis Center in Champaign, Ill.
Wong advanced to the quarterfinals of singles play as she received a first-round bye before rolling to a straight-set win over Minnesota’s Kandis Batiste in the second round. Wong won the first set with ease by a 6-2 score, before rolling to a 6-0 second-set victory. She will now face the Gophers’ Angela Buergis in the quarterfinals.
Morris also had a strong opening day, picking up a pair of straight-set wins. In the first round, she defeated Illinois State’s Dasha Cizkova in straight sets by scores of 6-2 and 6-0. In the second round, Morris had little trouble with ISU’s Alesia Mikalayeva, winning by a 6-1, 6-3 score. She will now face Illinois’ Eva Choe in the quarterfinal round.
Gunn was the third Yellow Jacket to reach the quarters, as she took advantage of a first-round bye to pick up a second-round win over Illinois’ Leila Cehajic. Gunn won the first set by a 6-4 score and then cruised to a 6-3 second-set victory to claim the match. She will face the Fighting Illini’s Tiffany Eklov in the next round on Saturday.
In doubles action, the Jackets had a pair of teams record perfect records on the day. The team of Wong and Morris won their opening match with Ashley Maxwell and Emilie Sechaud of Illinois State by an 8-1 score, before downing Kandis Batists and Brandi Watts of Minnesota by an 8-0 score in round two. Tech’s tandem of Gunn and Maria Nieto won their opening match by an 8-4 score over Tiffany Eklov and Jessica Barki of Illinois.
The Midwest Bash will continue on Saturday and conclude with the final round on Sunday. Full tournament results are available at www.fightingillini.com.
