The No. 21 ranked Tech women’s tennis team took on the No. 12 ranked Miami Hurricanes Saturday at the Bill Moore Tennis Center in the team’s third ACC game of the season.
The Jackets looked to start up a winning streak after beating Clemson in their previous match on the road in Death Valley, 5-2. Despite the team’s best efforts, Tech fell to the Hurricanes, 4-3 in a tough match against a talented Miami team.
In the doubles portion of the competition, Tech dropped two of three to the Hurricanes to fall behind in the score.
The first match pitted Tech’s freshman Rocio Alberca Lopez and junior Caroline Lilley against Miami’s sophomore Danielle Mills and freshman Brittany Dubins. The game came down to the wire, but Lopez and Lilley fell just short, losing 8-6.
The second match featured Tech’s No. 60 ranked doubles twosome of juniors Christina Ngo and Jillian O’Neill. The duo was matched up against the No. 27 ranked team of Miami’s senior Bianca Eichkorn and junior Anna Bartenstein. Though Eichkorn and Bartenstein seized an early lead, Ngo and O’Neill fought back hard, only to run out of games, losing 8-6 in a close match.
Tech’s only doubles win of the day came in the final match, courtesy of senior Sasha Krupina and sophomore Elizabeth Kilborn. The two downed Miami’s junior Gabriela Mejia and freshman Melissa Bolivar in a long match that went to a tiebreaker, 9-7.
The Jackets split the singles matches with Miami 3-3, but not without a pair of very exciting and even matches along the way. The first singles match had No. 84 ranked Ngo against No. 10 ranked Eichkorn in a high caliber match between two of the conference’s best players. Though Ngo fought hard to come back, she lost in straight sets, 6-1, 6-2.
The second singles match did not go in Tech’s favor either as No. 40 ranked O’Neill lost in straight sets, 6-3, 6-2, to Miami’s No. 75 ranked Bartenstein.
The third singles match proved to be the turning point as No. 86 ranked Caroline Lilley defeated the Hurricanes’ Mills in straight sets, 6-1, 6-4. This win led to Tech fighting back from the two early losses to win two of the next three matches to pull even in singles.
Though Krupina lost 6-2, 6-4 to Miami’s Bolivar, Kilborn and junior Lynn Blau won two games to finish the day for Tech. Kilborn matched up against the Hurricanes’ Mejia in what proved to be a very even and tough match for both players. After taking the first set, 6-3, Kilborn let Mejia back into the match, losing the second set, 2-6.
The third and deciding match of the afternoon proved to be one of the most entertaining and competitive of the Jacket’s early season. The game went to two tiebreakers, with back-and-forth play from both women. Kilborn eventually held off Mejia 1-0 (10-8) after a tiring match.