The No. 10 ranked Tech women’s tennis team picked up two victories over ranked opponents in the 2010 ITA Kick-Off Weekend on Jan. 30-31. Tech hosted No. 29 Arizona State on Saturday and No. 34 Kentucky on Sunday, beating each by a 4-2 score.
The wins secured Tech a spot in the ITA National Team Indoor Championships, which begin on Feb. 12.
The Jackets faced the Sun Devils last season for the first time in the second round of the ITA Kick-Off Weekend. Like the season before, Tech emerged victorious.
Tech struck first, taking the doubles point for a 1-0 lead. Sophomore Lynn Blau and freshman Elizabeth Kilborn defeated ASU’s Sianna Simmons and Amanda Martin 8-0. The Sun Devils evened the score, but the court one match decided the doubles point as sophomore Irina Falconi and junior Sasha Krupina defeated Kelcy McKenna and Hannah James 8-4.
In singles play Falconi, who is currently ranked No. 1 in the nation, downed McKenna 6-1, 6-4. Nadia Abdala gave ASU its first point of the day as she defeated Krupina 7-6 (7-2), 7-5. The Jackets brought the score to 3-1 when sophomore Viet Ha Ngo overcame Hein 6-4, 4-6, 6-2. McDowell dropped her match to James in three sets, but Kilborn ended the match with a win over Martin 6-1, 6-2, clinching a 4-2 win for Tech.
The next day the Jackets faced Kentucky, which survived No. 24 Alabama the day before, 4-3.
Tech clinched the doubles point with a sweep of all three matches to come out with a 1-0 lead over the Wildcats. Blau and Kilborn were the first tandem to finish their match, shutting out Nicole Scates and Megan Broderick, 8-0. Sophomore Hillary Davis and Ngo clinched the point, beating Kentucky’s Minnette Pineaar and Elle Coldiron, 8-2.
Falconi overcame Megan Broderick on the first court in singles 6-2, 6-2, to push the Jackets’ lead to 2-0. The Wildcats got onto the board after Caroline Lilley downed Krupina in straight sets 6-4, 6-3, to put the game score to 2-1. Blau then shut out Coldiron 6-0, 6-0, to put Tech up to 3-1. Following a Ngo loss to Christine Johnson, McDowell knocked off Pineaar to clinch the match, with the final score in Tech’s favor 4-2.
Falconi was named ACC Player of the Week for her performance as the Jackets secured a trip to Wisc. for the ITA National Indoor Team Championships.
The men’s tennis team came up short in its attempt to reach the ITA National Indoors, winning their Saturday match against No. 54 Penn State but falling on Sundayto No. 11 Florida.
Bad weather at the host site in Gainesville, Fla. meant that doubles play was postponed, to be used only if the teams were tied after singles play. The Jackets, however, won four singles matches to take the match.
Four matches in, the teams were tied after straight set wins by freshman Magin Ortiga and junior Eliot Potvin and losses by junior Dean O’Brien and freshman Juan Spir. Junior Guillermo Gomez, the No. 4 player in the country, won 6-2, 7-6 in the first flight to put Tech ahead, and sophomore Dusan Miljevic came back to win 2-6, 6-1, 6-4 to clinch the match for Tech.
The success was short-lived, though, as Florida blanked Tech the next day.
Florida struck early, defeating the Jackets in doubles to earn them one point.
In singles, seventh-ranked Alexandre Lacroix defeated Gomez 6-1, 3-1. Gomez was forced to retire early due to an ankle injury .
Potvin and junior Miguel Muguruza took their opponents to a third set, but finally fell. None of the Jackets managed to win a singles match and Florida won 7-0.