Kentucky’s veteran duo of junior Mami Adachi and Aldila Sutjiadi showed its toughness Thursday evening, outlasting Georgia Tech’s Johnnise Renaud and Rasheeda McAdoo in a 10-point match tiebreaker to advance out of the NCAA Doubles Championship opening round.
“Our players played against a talented and highly energetic Georgia Tech team today,” said head coach Carlos Drada. “Mami and Aldila executed a few key points late in the match and this proved to be the difference. We are ready for a great match tomorrow.”
The Wildcats started strong, taking the first set with ease, but Georgia Tech didn’t give up easy. The Yellow Jackets fired back to take the second set, 7-5, which forced the third-set tiebreak. With the score tied at six apiece, Kentucky took control and rattled off four straight points to seal the match. The victory ended Renaud/McAdoo’s 10-match win streak.
“They (McAdoo/Renaud) both played aggressive and we had to keep our aggressiveness up the whole match, especially during the tiebreaker,” said Adachi. “We knew whoever was more aggressive was going to win in the tiebreaker. They were down but they just kept coming, so we had to continue to stay on top of them and make sure to not give them any free points.”
A familiar pair awaits Adachi and Sutjiadi in the round of 16 tomorrow, as the two will take on South Carolina’s No. 24 Hadley Berg and Paige Cline. While Kentucky played the Gamecocks twice this season, the UK duo has only faced Berg/Cline once, with South Carolina taking a 6-1 decision at the Southeastern Conference Championships. Tomorrow’s match is slated for a 3 p.m. start.
NCAA Women’s Doubles Championship – Round of 32
Dan Magill Tennis Complex – Athens, Ga.
May 25, 2017
No. 6 Aldila Sutjiadi/Mami Adachi (UK) def. No. 23 Johnnise Renaud/Rasheeda McAdoo (GT), 6-2, 5-7, 1-0 (6)
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Karlie Kinneer
