Women’s Tennis’ Lee Finishes Singles Run in NCAA Quarterfinals

Carol Lee finished her junior season in the quarterfinals of the 2023 NCAA Singles Championship

Author:
Matthew Kistner
Publish date:
May 25, 2023 3:51 PM EDT

For the first time since 2010, a Georgia Tech Women’s Tennis player made it to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Singles Championships. Junior Carol Lee has been show stopping all season long and was nothing short of sensational in the conclusion of her season. Lee, along with teammate sophomore Kylie Bilchev, traveled to Orlando, Florida for the NCAA Singles Championships, looking to make a run for the National Championship. Last year, Lee advanced to the round of 32 but fell short against the overall number one seeded player. This year was not the same story.

Lee came into the tournament 26-11 on the season in singles matches and, as the 15th seed, was pinned against UCF’s Marie Mattel in the opening Round of 64. Lee notched a straight set victory over Mattel, winning both sets 6-4 and never trailed in either. Looking to move past her previous year’s finish line, Lee was slated to take on Tennessee’s Elza Tomase for a ticket to the tournament’s Round of 16. Lee, once again, took a straight set victory over Tomase, making two electric breaks to conclude the pair of sets. Lee and Tomase started both sets evenly in the first pair of games, but Lee broke away in both, emerging with a 6-2 win in the first set and a 6-3 triumph in the second.

Moving into unfamiliar territory, the Yellow Jacket, Lee, was in the Round of 16 up against Auburn’s Carolyn Ansari. Ansari was just coming off a huge upset over Miami’s Alexa Noel, the fifth overall seed in the tournament, and carried some of that momentum into the Round of 16. Noel took the first set over Lee 3-6, the first set Lee dropped in the tournament, but Lee battled it out in the second, emerging victorious 7-5 and forcing a third set to decide who advanced to the quarterfinals. Lee dominated the third set and did not drop a single game, triumphing over Noel 6-0 to secure a quarterfinals bid.

Junior Carol Lee discusses with official during her Round of 16 matchup against Auburn's Carolyn Ansari
Georgia Tech athletics

Lee marched into the quarterfinals for a matchup against North Carolina State’s Amelia Rajecki who had just taken down the tournament’s number one overall seed: North Carolina’s Fiona Crawley. Lee fought hard in the first set, trailing just 5-4 after being down 4-1; however, Rajecki served out the final game of the first set and topped Lee 6-4. In a win or go home situation, Lee rallied to a 2-2 deuce, but was unable to fight back when Rajecki pulled up 4-2 and Lee fell 6-3 in the second set, marking the end of her run.

Lee’s quarterfinal appearance is the first for Tech since Irina Falconi in 2010. To emphasize Lee’s stellar achievement, Falconi is a professional player who ranked in the top 100 internationally for years and is a member of the 2021 Georgia Tech Sports Hall of Fame, so Lee is joining elite company in the capping of her junior campaign. Lee concluded the 2023 season as an ITA Singles All-American with a 29-12 overall singles record and climbed as high as 7th in the national rankings. Lee returns for one more season with the Yellow Jackets next year and is surely set to have a phenomenal senior campaign.

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