From staff reports
Senior Amanda Johnson is still alive in both singles and doubles competition at the ITA National Indoor Collegiate Championships after today's first round. The native of Bettendorf, Iowa will compete tomorrow after a straight-sets victory in singles and a hard-fought doubles win at the University of Michigan-hosted event.
The singles match saw Johnson dismantle 14th-ranked Jessica Carleton, representing UCLA. The win over the Bruin was the 97th victory as an NCAA competitor for Johnson, who has competed for four years at Duke.
Johnson's next match will pit her against Tennessee's Tammy Encina, currently ranked at 27th in the nation, today.
In the doubles competition's opening round, the three-time All-Amerca selection had a bit more trouble, but, along with freshman partner Tory Zawacki, defeated a duo from Southern Nazarene. The two Blue Devils bested Nikkita Fountain and Larikah Russell, 9-8.
The two will compete next tomorrow, as the New Jersey native and Johnson try to unseat a number-one duo. Vanderbilt's premier pair, Kelly Schmandt and Aleke Tsoubanos, will be the Duke duo's next opponents, having destroyed a twosome from Tulane.
Johnson and Zawacki have some experience when it comes to winning against top-ranked opposition, having unseated Stanford's then-No. 1 Lauren Barnikow and Erin Burdette in early October at the Riviera All-American by a score of 8-5. The duo later lost to a sixth-ranked tandem from Northwestern.
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