Women’s NTI R16 Results & Quarterfinal Predictions

The opening day of the Women’s National Team Indoor Championships is in the books with seven of the top eight seeds advancing to the quarterfinals. There were some blowouts and some close ones though none of them came down to the deciding court with 4-0 and 4-1 scores accounting for six of the eight results with the other two being 4-2. We’ll start with the one seeding upset of the day which took place at the Tennis and Fitness Center in Rocky Hill, Connecticut. Vanderbilt, which is the No. 8 seed, came into the match with a perfect 4-0 record during the doubles point while Texas Tech had only won the point once in four attempts. Many folks including myself though Vandy was a shoe-in to take the doubles point but Texas Tech must have figured something out in the off-week because the Red Raiders rolled in doubles by picking up a 6-2 win at No. 3 and a 6-3 win at No. 2.

Vanderbilt bounced back in singles and took four opening sets but Astra Sharma was the only Commodore to finish in straight sets after she defeated Gabriela Talaba 6-3, 6-4. Georgina Sellyn put Vanderbilt in front with an interesting 6-0, 0-6, 6-1 win at No. 3 but after that it was all Red Raiders.

Texas Tech sophomore Felicity Maltby overcame seven double faults to defeat Sydney Campbell 6-2, 2-6, 6-3 at No. 2. Texas Tech junior Katelyn Jackson put the Red Raiders ahead 3-2 with a come from behind three-set win over Emily Smith at No. 6. Jackson broke Smith to start the third set and would eventually lead 4-2 but Smith held and broke to even it at 4-4. Jackson broke back from 15/40 on a Smith double fault and then she served it out from 40/30 to get the 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 win. Texas Tech sophomore Alex Valenstein would get the clincher at No. 4 with a come from behind three-set win over Christina Rosca. After Valenstein dropped the opening set in a tiebreak she only dropped two games the rest of the way in her 6-7(4), 6-2, 6-0 win. 

The other match went unfinished with Texas Tech’s Sabrina Federici leading 1-0 in the third at No. 5 – had a couple of break points at 30/40 to go up 2-0 as well.  

• Ohio State was in control against Auburn from the get-go after taking the doubles point and four first sets in singles in route to winning 4-1
• Oklahoma State shutout Ole Miss 4-0 but the match was much closer than the score with each team taking three first sets in singles – OSU was able to dig deep and pull away later on several courts.
• Florida overcame the loss of the doubles point to defeat Michigan 4-1 – Gators won going away at 3, 4, 5, and 6 while Michigan took opening sets at 1 and 2.
• North Carolina thumped Yale 4-0 in a match that took just 90 minutes – UNC outscored Yale 17-0 during the doubles point
• Cal really ran all over Georgia Tech in a 4-0 win – Bears took the doubles point and eight of nine completed set including Karla Popovic winning 0 & 0 at No. 2. 
• Pepperdine was playing without it’s top singles player, Luisa Stefani (representing Brazil in the Fed Cup), but they still managed to get past Texas A&M 4-2. 
• Georgia overcame the loss of the doubles point to defeat Duke 4-1 – Eleni Christofi came back from 3-1 down in the third to clinch the win

#3 Pepperdine 4, #15 Texas A&M 2
Feb 10, 2017 at New Haven, Conn. (Cullman-Heyman Tennis Center)
Singles competition
1. #71 Pierson, Rachel (TAMU) def. #14 Sherif Ahmed, Mayar (PEP) 6-0, 7-5
2. #22 Lahey, Ashley (PEP) def. Bhosale, Rutuja (TAMU) 6-3, 6-1
3. #72 Gulbe, Laura (PEP) def. Bokhua, Tina (TAMU) 6-0, 7-5
4. Milovanovic, Dzina (PEP) def. Olivares, Macarena (TAMU) 7-5, 6-3
5. Gonzalez, Domenica (TAMU) def. Runglerdkriangkrai,A (PEP) 6-3, 6-4
6. Maddox, Christine (PEP) vs. Paalma, Eva (TAMU) 4-6, 6-3, unf
Doubles competition
1. #4 Maddox, Christine/Sherif Ahmed, Mayar (PEP) def. #16 Bhosale, Rutuja/Pierson, Rachel (TAMU) 6-3
2. Lahey, Ashley/Runglerdkriangkrai,A (PEP) def. Paalma, Eva/Gonzalez, Domenica (TAMU) 6-2
3. Olivares, Macarena/Bokhua, Tina (TAMU) def. Gulbe, Laura/Milovanovic, Dzina (PEP) 6-3
Match Notes
Texas A&M 5-2; National ranking #15
Pepperdine University 3-1; National ranking #3
Order of finish: Doubles (2,3,1); Singles (2,1,5,3,4)
ITA National Team Indoor Championships

FloTenns Interview with Pepperdine head coach Per Nilsson

Post-Match Quotes from TAMU’s recap
“It was a well fought match from the Aggies,” A&M head coach Mark Weaver said. “Pepperdine has an excellent team and will definitely be in contention for a national title in my opinion. I felt that the doubles point was a key. One or two points here and there and maybe we get the point. I give Pepperdine credit for their aggressive style of play which paid dividends in the indoor setting. The singles was pretty neck and neck and was competed pretty evenly all the way through. We were a little unfortunate at No. 4 singles having had set points at both 5-3 and 5-4. Overall, I feel that Pepperdine just came up with more of the bigger points than we did.”

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No. 6 Georgia 4, No. 10 Duke 1
February 10, 2017 at New Haven, Conn. (Tennis and Fitness Center of Rocky Hill)
Doubles competition
1. #25 Meible Chi/Kaitlyn McCarthy (DU) def. Ellen Perez/Eleni Christofi (UGA) 7-6 (7-2)
2. Chalena Scholl/Alyssa Smith (DU) def. Kennedy Shaffer/Caroline Brinson (UGA) 6-3
3. Mariana Gould/Marta Gonzalez (UGA) def. Samantha Harris/Rebecca Smaller (DU) 6-4
Singles competition
1. Ellen Perez (UGA) def. Samantha Harris (DU) 6-2, 6-2
2. #18 Eleni Christofi (UGA) def. #21 Meible Chi (DU) 4-6, 6-1, 6-4
3. #39 Kennedy Shaffer (UGA) vs. #37 Chalena Scholl (DU) 7-5, 4-6, 3-5*, unfinished
4. #34 Caroline Brinson (UGA) def. #125 Kaitlyn McCarthy (DU) 7-5, 6-4
5. Marta Gonzalez (UGA) vs. Alyssa Smith (DU) 7-5, 5-7, 2-0*, unfinished
6. Mariana Gould (UGA) def. Rebecca Smaller (DU) 6-1, 6-3
Match Notes:
Duke 4-1; National ranking #10
Georgia 4-0; National ranking #6
Order of finish: Doubles (3,2,1); Singles (1,6,4,2)

Post-Match Quotes from Georgia’s recap
“It was quite a doubles point, and it’s always going to be close when you play six-game no-ad set, and we knew we had to be ready to go in singles down 1-0,” said Georgia head coach Jeff Wallace. “Ellen and Mariana got us right back in it with two quick wins. CB (Caroline Brinson) got down 4-1 in both of her sets and fought back to win the match and then Elena clinched it.”

Post-Match Quotes from Duke’s recap
“That was a disappointing match to lose, but a good lesson,” head coach Jamie Ashworth said. “We know we can play with anybody in the country if we go out and play hard and smart. As I told the team, we don’t even have to play great, we just play within ourselves. We gave ourselves some chances all night long and that could have been a 4-3 win for us. It’s definitely disappointing, but we have to take some positives from it.”

“I thought we played really good doubles,” Ashworth said. “That was the best doubles, by far, we’ve played all year. Even in the match we lost, we gave ourselves an opportunity. On courts one and two we played really clean with a lot of energy. That was playing smart doubles. I was really happy with that. I thought we could take some of that momentum into singles, but Georgia, especially at the top of its lineup, is so good.”

“Alyssa did a great job of fighting back,” Ashworth added. “Chalena did a great job of fighting back. As a team we have to learn from those two. They’re both seniors who kept grinding and fighting. They did a great job.”

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