The fourth-ranked Georgia Tech women’s team advanced Thursday to the quarterfinals of the NCAA championship with a 4-3 win over No. 13 Pepperdine in the round of 16 in Winston-Salem, N.C.

It’s the farthest that the Yellow Jackets have advanced since 2008 and is just the third Elite Eight appearance in school history. Tech won the national championship in 2007, which remains the school’s only national title awarded by the NCAA (as opposed to football national championships determined by polls).

The Jackets (24-5) will play No. 14 UCLA on Saturday at 4 p.m. in the quarterfinals. The winner will face the winner of the Vanderbilt-Florida State quarterfinal matchup on Monday for a spot in the finals. Vanderbilt is the top seed in the tournament.

Tech bounced Pepperdine with freshman Victoria Flores securing the winning point at No. 6 singles. The Jackets lost the doubles point, but then claimed wins (in chronological order) from Nami Otsuka (No. 5 singles), Paige Hourigan (No. 1) and Ida Jarlskog (No. 4). That left the No. 6 singles match between Flores and Pepperdine’s Dzina Milovanovic to decide the outcome.

After winning the first set in a tiebreak, Flores dropped the second set 6-3 and then broke Milovanovic twice to take the third set 6-4.

An earlier version of this story gave the incorrect opponent in the semifinals for the Tech-UCLA winner.

About the Author

Keep Reading

Brittney Griner (42) of the Phoenix Mercury shoots the ball over defender Alanna Smith (8) of the Minnesota Lynx in the second quarter in Game Two of Round One of the WNBA Playoffs at Target Center on Sept. 25, 2024, in Minneapolis. (Stephen Maturen/Getty Images/TNS)

Credit: TNS

Featured

An email circulating through Georgia Tech told students and faculty to delete DEI terms from the school's website, but administrators said the email contained "misinformation." (Miguel Martinez/AJC 2024)

Credit: Miguel Martinez-Jimenez