Tennis wins USA/ITA Indoor National Title

The No. 6 Jackets' women's tennis team won the USTA/ITA National Team Indoor Championship held in Madison, Wisc. last Sunday, beating Notre Dame 4-2 in the finals.

In the singles competition, Tech won four of six singles matches and two of three doubles competitions.

Kirsten Flower, Christy Striplin, Alison Silverio, and Amanda Craddock all won their singles matches against their opponents.

"We didn't try and over think it. We played really well against Stanford and we just wanted to continue on that path. I think we knew that we could finish off the tournament with another win. We had such a quick turnaround that we were still probably riding off of such a great feeling from the night before," said Kristi Miller.

The Fighting Irish fell behind 3-0 in the match, but fought back to come as close as 3-2. Tech sealed the victory with a comeback win by Craddock in her match against Notre Dame's Brook Buck.

En route to the finals, Tech defeated three-time defending champion, Stanford. The Cardinals had come into the match with an NCAA-record winning streak of 89 matches. The Jackets' 4-2 victory set up the final against No. 2 seed, Notre Dame.

Stanford and Tech each won three a piece in the singles competitions, but Tech won two out of three of the doubles matches to take the match and upset the top ranked Cardinals team. Tarryn Rudman, Craddock, and Flower all won their singles matchups.

"We went in knowing that we could win. It was just a matter of doing it. Once we beat Stanford it was a realization that we really can win this thing. When you play a team like Stanford, you know you have the ability to [do it], it's just a matter of doing it," Flower said.

During the tournament, No. 25 Flower won four straight matches. Each victory came in straight sets, including a defeat of No. 31 Colleen Rielley, 6-2, 6-1 in the finals.

The freshmen was named Tech's Student Athlete of the Week earlier this week.

"I feel really good about it. It's always important to start strong, especially in a tournament of such high quality," Flower said.

"She's the hardest worker on our team. She's a little bit of a perfectionist and her commitment on the court is infectious. Her results so far have been exceptional," said head coach Bryan Shelton

Tech's No. 1 singles player, No. 15 Miller, struggled in her final three singles matches after easily winning in the first round.

Miller fell to three ranked opponents, including a three-set loss to No. 7 Jenna Long of North Carolina in the second round. The final score was 6-4, 6-7, 6-4.

"I played some tough players. Playing indoors is always difficult because it's just a much faster pace and so it's a little more difficult if you're not completely on your game," Miller said.

Miller performed better in doubles, winning three of four of her doubles matches with partner Whitney McCray through the tournament. The loss came to North Carolina's Long and Sara Anudsen, the No. 16 doubles team in the country.

The Jackets climbed to the No. 1 ranking after winning the tournament. It knocked Stanford off the top after the Cardinals had held the top position for 47 straight polls.

"It's a great feeling to [be ranked No. 1]. It's an accomplishment and an achievement. You recognize quickly that it's a team effort," Shelton said.

Tech came into the season ranked at No. 6 and with five singles players ranked in the top 100. This championship is one of three ITA national collegiate championships held during the season.

The other two are the Riviera/ITA All-America Championships in November and the NCAA Championships in May.

"The players took on themselves to say that we now go for the championship. It's only been our second year of playing in this national event and we wanted to make the most of it and go for it all," Shelton said.

The Jackets will next face No. 25 William & Mary and Illinois at Champaign tomorrow and No. 8 Northwestern on Monday.