Sept. 16, 2011
ALPHARETTA, GA. – The Georgia Tech women’s tennis team opened its 2011-12 season in impressive fashion on day one of the Georgia Tech Invitational being held at the Windward Club in Alpharetta, Ga., just outside Atlanta.
All seven Yellow Jackets playing singles matches earned victories, with Tech dropping only three total sets, and Tech won all three of its doubles matches convincingly.
Senior Jillian O’Neill, ranked No. 21 in the Campbell/ITA Tennis preseason rankings, made quick work of Oklahoma State sophomore Kanyapat Narattana, 6-1, 6-0. Junior Elizabeth Kilborn was equally impressive in defeating Cowgirl junior C.C. Sardinha, 6-2, 6-1.
The lone freshman on the Yellow Jacket squad, Jasmine Minor, notched a successful collegiate debut, tallying a 6-3, 6-1 win over Georgia junior Kelli Jordan. Tech junior Viet Ha Ngo, ranked 44th, earned a hard-fought 6-4, 6-4 win over Oklahoma State freshman Meghan Blevins.
Senior Caroline Lilley, ranked No. 69 by the ITA, cruised in her first set, 6-2, but had to battle back after dropping the second, 6-4, to Cowgirl junior Malika Rose. Lilley answered the lost second set with a resounding 6-2 final set win to claim the match victory.
Georgia Tech newcomer Alex Anghelescu didn’t drop a game in tallying a 6-0 first set win over Oklahoma State freshman Mary Jeremiah, but the Cowgirl posted a 6-2 second set win to force a decisive third set, which Anghelescu won, 6-3, to give the 81st-ranked Yellow Jacket sophomore her first win since arriving on The Flats.
Rounding out singles play with a Georgia Tech victory was senior Lynn Blau, ranked No. 124, who earned a 6-3 first set win, but had to bounce back after a 3-6 second set loss. Blau showed her toughness, outdueling Cowgirl sophomore Leyla Simmons 6-1 in the final set for the win.
The Yellow Jackets carried the momentum from their impressive singles sweep into doubles play as Tech posted a 3-0 mark against teams from Yale.
Tech’s top duo of Lilley and O’Neill, ranked No. 6 in the preseason poll, quickly fell back into the form that helped the senior pair post an 8-1 record in the spring as they downed the Bulldogs team of senior Stephanie Kent and sophomore Annie Sullivan, 8-3.
Ngo, who played most of the 2011 spring season with the graduated Sasha Krupina, made an impressive fall debut with sophomore Muriel Wacker as the Jackets defeated Yale’s team of sophomore Blair Seideman and freshman Amber Li, 8-2.
Blau and Kilborn, who won their final three matches together in the spring, picked up where they left off, earning an 8-5 win over the Bulldogs’ pair of junior Elizabeth Epstein and freshman Hanna Yu.
The second day of the Georgia Tech Invitational will begin at 2 p.m. tomorrow at the Windward Club in Alpharetta, and the event is open and free to the public.
Fans are encouraged to follow Georgia Tech women’s tennis on Twitter, @GT_WTEN, and like the Yellow Jackets on Facebook, GTWomensTennis, for an inside look at the program.
— RamblinWreck.com —
