Sophomore Kennedy Shaffer advanced to the round of 16 with a victory over 18th-ranked Ronit Yurovsky at the NCAA Individual Championships at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
 
 
Shaffer’s three-set win sealed her place as an All-American, her first such honor as a Georgia Bulldog. She was one of three Bulldogs to compete in Tulsa on Thursday.
 
 
Shaffer opened the day by winning a back-and-forth battle, earning a hard-fought victory over No. 18 Yurovsky (Michigan) in the third-set tie-break. After dropping her first set 3-6, Shaffer countered with a 6-3 win in the second set. She then shot out to a 5-2 lead in the match’s final set before Yurovsky took four consecutive games for a 6-5 lead. Shaffer answered by breaking her opponent’s serve to force the tie-break, which she took 7-4 for a 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 win.
 
 
Shaffer will face Katherine Ip of Rice in Friday’s match. The match between Shaffer and Ip, ranked 104 by the ITA, will begin at 11 a.m. ET.
 
 
Ellen Perez followed Shaffer with a tough battle in a rematch against Oklahoma State’s Katarina Adamovic. Perez fell to her counterpart 6-3, 7-6, dropping a closely-contested match after leading the second set 3-1 and 5-3.
 
 
The doubles pair of Perez and Mariana Gould capped the day for Georgia, getting a rematch against Kiah Generette and Blair Shankle of Baylor. The pairs fought to a 4-4 unfinished match in Athens in the regional round of the NCAA Tournament, but the Georgia duo ultimately fell 6-4, 6-4 in a tight battle on Thursday.