Returning from a winning season last year, the women’s tennis team started their season strong with the Georgia Tech Invitational in Alpharetta, Ga. from Sept. 16-18. Yale, Oklahoma State, Georgia and Tech were represented at the tournament.
Tech opened on the first day with a strong showing in which all the Jackets playing singles matches earned victories and lost only three total sets. In addition, Tech won all three doubles matches: two against UGA and one against Yale.
Senior Jillian O’Neill won her first two sets of the tournament against Oklahoma State’s Kanyapat Narattana 6-1 and 6-0. Freshman Jasmine Minor, in her first collegiate match, won in two sets against Georgia’s Kelli Jordan.
Senior Caroline Lilley, who was paired with O’Neill for the doubles matches, won her first set against OSU’s Malika Rose but dropped the second set. Lilley was able to rebound and claimed the victory with a 6-2 final set.
Day two opened with doubles play and the Jackets got off to a slow start. Tech won only one of its doubles matches on Saturday but bounced back to claim victories in all their singles matches. The Jackets only lost two sets in eight matches.
Senior Lynn Blau and Junior Elizabeth Kilborn won the lone doubles victory against UGA on Saturday. They posted a 9-8 (7-2) victory against the UGA team of Maho Kowase and Lilly Kimbel.
Tech sophomore Muriel Wacker easily defeated UGA’s Kelli Jordan in a 6-0, 6-0 showing. Senior Viet Ha Ngo was able to come back from a first set defeat to win the final two sets 6-3, 6-3 against Yale’s Blair Seideman.
The Jackets won four singles matches and three doubles on Sunday to finish off the weekend. Sophomore Alex Anghelescu won all three of her matches and finished the tournament off with a 6-2, 6-1 victory over UGA.
Blau and Kilborn, who won the final three games they played together in the spring, continued their trend. The duo won the doubles title with three match victories. Their final match ended with an 8-4 win over Oklahoma State.
Anghelescu and teammate freshman Jasmine Minor won an 8-2 victory against a mixed team from Yale and Oklahoma State on Sunday. O’Neill and Lilley bounced back from a defeat on Saturday to take a win from the Cowgirls’ team of Mary Jeremiah and Meghan Blevins, 8-4.
In the individual matches, Kilborn did not lose a single set and only lost five games over the entire weekend. In addition to Kilborn and Anghelescu, Blau also recorded a perfect match score to start the season 3-0.
The rest of the team fared well in singles play, with the Jackets only dropping three matches in the entire weekend of individual matches, all of which were on the final day of the tournament.