North Carolina
Georgia Tech
No. 5 Tar Heels Hand No. 12 Georgia Tech First ACC Loss With 4-3 Win
April 8, 2006 | Women's Tennis
April 8, 2006
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - Claiming its 21st win over Georgia Tech since 1978, the North Carolina women's tennis team handed the Yellow Jackets their first Atlantic Coast Conference loss on Saturday at the Cone-Kenfield Tennis Center, topping Georgia Tech, 4-3. Junior Sara Anundsen upset the 62nd-ranked singles player in the country, Alison Silverio, to clinch the match for the Tar Heels at the three seed. With the win, No. 5 North Carolina, according to the Intercollegiate Tennis Association, now stands at 23-4 overall and 8-2 in Atlantic Coast Conference play, while the Yellow Jackets moved to 16-4, 7-1 ACC.
For the 25th time this season, the Tar Heels jumped off to a 1-0 start claiming the doubles point. With inclement weather forcing the doubles matches inside, the Tar Heels won at the two and three seeds to earn the doubles point. The 46th-ranked Tar Heel duo of Meg Fanjoy and Austin Smith took the first doubles win from Kacie Anson and Alison Silverio at the three seed. Earning its 26th doubles win of the season, the Tar Heel duo ousted the Yellow Jackets, 8-2. Clinching the doubles point for North Carolina, Caitlin Collins and Tanja Markovic battled hard at the two seed. Dropping a 4-2 lead to Kelly Anderson and Whitney McCray, who took the lead 6-4, the Tar Heel pair came back strong, clinching the match 8-6. With the win, North Carolina took a 1-0 lead over Georgia Tech.
The No. 7 ranked duo in the nation, Sara Anundsen and Jenna Long, fell hard to the 16th-ranked Kristi Miller and Lyndsay Shosho, 8-3. The upset moved the Tar Heel pair to 30-5 overall.
Georgia Tech quickly tied the match at one-all with a 6-0, 6-2 win at the one seed. Junior Caitlin Collins, ranked 57th in the nation, fought hard against Kristi Miller, the No. 1 singles player in the country. Collins fell, moving her overall singles record to 24-14. Freshman Austin Smith put Carolina back in the lead with a win at the four seed. Smith downed Georgia Tech's Tarryn Rudman, 6-3, 6-0. With the upset of No. 71 Rudman, Smith earned her 28th singles win of the season and moved the match score to 2-1 Carolina; Smith leads the team in singles wins. Matches came down to the third sets at all remaining seeds, two, three, five and six. Junior Jenna Long, ranked 34th in the nation, fought back hard in her second and third sets, dominating opponent Lyndsay Shosho. Long topped No. 52 Shosho at the two seed, 2-6, 6-1, 6-3, claiming her 27th singles victory and pushing the score to a Carolina 3-1 lead.
Junior Sara Anundsen, at the three seed, dropped her second set to No. 62 Alison Silverio, taking the match into the third. Anundsen clinched the match score at 4-1 with a 6-2, 2-6, 6-4 victory over Silverio. With the upset over Silverio, Anundsen pushed her overall season record to 23-10.
Battling at the five and six seeds, freshman Laura Reichert took on No. 94 Kelly Anderson and lone senior Tanja Markovic faced Georgia Tech's Whitney McCray, respectively. Markovic, at the six seed, claimed the second set, 6-1, after dropping the first, 6-7 (5). But McCray took the third set, 6-2, ending Markovic's seven-game win streak. Reichert jumped off to a good start, claiming the first set, 6-4, but fell in the second, 5-7. In the third set, Reichert fell, 7-6 (5). Reichert now stands at 24-8 on the season.
Head coach Brian Kalbas was pleased with the win today. "It was an amazing performance by our team today," said Kalbas. "Georgia Tech is an extremely well-coached team, they have great competitors and we knew coming in to the match how good they were. And for us, there were a couple distractions going through a couple rain delays and moving the match inside, but I thought our team handled the diversity well and competed in probably one of our best matches of the year. Sara [Anundsen] beat a girl who she had lost to twice last year in straight sets and it was a great effort by everybody. I was proud of everybody's competition today."
Georgia Tech defeated North Carolina twice in the 2005 season. In regular season play, the Yellow Jackets took the match, 5-2 and in the ACC Semifinals, Georgia Tech topped Carolina 4-2 to advance to the finals. The Tar Heels last defeated the Yellow Jackets on April 15, 2004 in the ACC Semifinals, where they claimed the victory, 4-1. North Carolina topped Georgia Tech twice that year, the first being on April 9, 2004, where North Carolina claimed the win, 5-2. Carolina now leads the series over Georgia Tech, 21-4.
The No. 5 Tar Heels close out their regular season play Sunday, April 9 hosting No. 24 Clemson at the Cone-Kenfield Tennis Center in Chapel Hill. The match is slated for a 1 p.m. start. The match is free and open to the public.
No. 5 North Carolina 4, No. 12 Georgia Tech 3
Doubles:
1. No. 16 Kristi Miller/Lyndsay Shosho (GT) d. No. 7 Sara Anundsen/Jenna Long (UNC) 8-3
2. Caitlin Collins/Tanja Markovic (UNC) d. Kelly Anderson/Whitney McCray (GT) 8-6
3. Meg Fanjoy/Austin Smith (UNC) d. Kacie Anson/Alison Silverio (GT) 8-2
Order of finish: 3, 1, 2
Singles:
1. No. 1 Kristi Miller (GT) d. No. 57 Caitlin Collins (UNC) 6-0, 6-2
2. No. 34 Jenna Long (UNC) d. No. 52 Lyndsay Shosho (GT) 2-6, 6-1, 6-3
3. Sara Anundsen (UNC) d. No. 62 Alison Silverio (GT) 6-2, 2-6, 6-4 *
4. Austin Smith (UNC) d. No. 71 Tarryn Rudman (GT) 6-3, 6-0
5. No. 94 Kelly Anderson (GT) d. Laura Reichert (UNC) 6-4, 5-7, 7-6 (5)
6. Whitney McCray (GT) d. Tanja Markovic (UNC) 7-6 (5), 1-6, 6-2
Order of finish: 1, 4, 2, 3, 6, 5
*Clinched the match
Players Mentioned
