Women's Tennis wins first NCAA title
By Hahnming Lee/ Student Publications
The women's tennis team gathers around their trophy after earning Tech's first NCAA Championship title in school history. Alison Silverio earned the title of tournament MVP and was named to the all-tournament team.
The women's tennis team defeated UCLA in Athens, Ga., May 22 to capture their first NCAA National Championship.
The championship is also Tech's first-ever NCAA team championship in any sport. Tech's football team has claimed four national championships, but the titles were awarded through wire service polls and are not championships sanctioned by the NCAA.
"For us to get the first [championship] for [Tech] is special to me because I went to school here. [Tech] always has a special place in my heart," said Head Coach Bryan Shelton.
Tech did not get off to a good start, with UCLA winning the doubles point. The teams of Kristi Miller and Whitney McCray and Alison Silverio and Amanda Craddock both lost their matches by an identical score of 8-3 to give UCLA the early lead.
The Jackets stormed back in singles play, winning four of the team's five matches. Miller, Silverio, Amanda McDowell and Christy Striplin all won their matches.
Silverio clinched the match at the No. 2 singles spot with a 7-5, 5-7, 6-1 win over Tracy Lin. The back-and-forth contest drew a great deal of attention in the latter half of the match between Tech and UCLA, with both teams knowing that this point would be likely to decide the national championship.
In the third set, both teams gathered on opposite sides of the court to cheer on the two remaining players. Silverio quickly won the third set to seal the winning point and the title.
Miller bounced back from a tough loss in the semifinals to win in straight sets. She helped tie the score for Tech, evening it up at 2 a piece.
Striplin won her match in three sets at the No. 5 singles spot to put the Jackets up 3-2, giving Tech a lead it would keep through the end of the match.
McDowell excelled in her match at No. 4 and won her 10th straight match. She was undefeated in the tournament, winning all six of her singles matches. The freshman from Atlanta lost just 10 games in the tournament. She also ended the season with 11 consecutive wins.
At the conclusion of the tournament, Silverio, McDowell and Striplin were all named to the all-tournament singles team. Silverio was also named MVP of the tournament.
"It's been an unbelievable four years. I came into this program and we were ranked No. 42, and now we're No. 1," Silverio said.
Coach Bryan Shelton was named the ITA Coach of the Year the same day Tech captured the title.
The National Championship is Tech's second of the year, winning the ITA Indoor National Championship earlier in the year after defeating Stanford in the semifinals. The win ended the Cardinals' 89-game winning streak.
After starting the regular season 8-4 and losing their first ACC conference match against Clemson, the Jackets won 21 straight games to finish the season.
