March 25, 2015
At Wake Forest: Live Stats|Live Video
At Duke: Live Stats|Live Video
The #45 Georgia Tech women’s tennis team (6-6, 3-3 ACC) hit the road for two matches, traveling to Wake Forest on Friday at 4 p.m. and to #17 Duke on Sunday at noon.
Scouting the Opponents
Wake Forest (12-7, 2-5 ACC)
Series: Wake Forest leads, 21-13
While Wake Forest leads the all-time series against Georgia Tech, 21-13, the Yellow Jackets have won 11 of the past 12 meetings, including a 5-2 win at home last season. The Demon Deacons have won two ACC matches so far, defeating Louisville, 6-1, and Pittsburgh, 6-1. Last weekend, Wake Forest lost to North Carolina, 7-0, and then defeated Appalachian State, 7-0.
#17 Duke (11-5, 6-0 ACC)
Series: Duke leads, 34-5
Georgia Tech looks for its third-straight win against Duke this weekend, which would be the longest winning streak against the Blue Devils in the series history for the Yellow Jackets. Last season, the Yellow Jackets upset the #1-ranked Blue Devils, 4-3. On her senior night, former Jacket Muriel Wacker clinched the victory for the Jackets. Duke currently sits atop the ACC standings with an undefeated conference record at 6-0. The Blue Devils most recently upset #8 Virginia, 4-3.
Beatrice Capra and Samantha Harris are Duke’s 49th ranked doubles pairing. Duke also has three singles players in the rankings. Ester Goldfeld checks in at #38, Harris is ranked at #55 while Rachel Kahan is #109. Goldfeld and Harris are both 5-1 in conference play while Kahn is 4-1.
Ranked Opponents
Out of Georgia Tech’s 12 dual match opponents, 10 have been ranked in the top 75 of the ITA’s weekly rankings. The Yellow Jackets have faced four top-20 teams, including the #1 team, North Carolina, and #3 Georgia. One of Tech’s next two opponents is ranked – #17 Duke.
Georgia Tech has picked up four wins against ranked opponents – #31 Tennessee, #32 Notre Dame, #38 Columbia and #59 USF.
ACC Standings
The #45 Jackets currently are tied for seventh in the ACC standings after competing in six ACC matches thus far. #2 North Carolina sits atop the conference standings with a 7-0 record. #16 Miami and #17 Duke are tied for second with 6-0 records while #8 Virginia has a 5-1 conference record. #19 Clemson has posted a 5-2 record and #36 Notre Dame is 5-3 so far. Georgia Tech is tied with Boston College with a 3-3 record.
Who clinched the match?
In Georgia Tech’s six wins this season, five different Yellow Jackets have clinched the deciding point. Juniorclinched a team-best two matches at the number three singles spot against #59 South Florida and NC State. Sophomorealso clinched a match on court three, defeating her opponent against #18 Columbia. Freshmanwon the deciding match against #31 Tennessee on court one. Most recently, junior win on court four against Louisville secured Georgia Tech’s victory. Freshman Alexis Prokopuik clinched the first match of her career after defeating her opponent on court five in singles against #32 Notre Dame. Her three-set win broke a 3-3 tie in the match.
Dominant in Doubles
The Yellow Jackets have won the doubles point in eight of 12 matches and are 5-3 when winning the doubles point. The Jackets are 1-3 when losing the doubles point and came back to defeat #32 Notre Dame after dropping the doubles point. Tech won the doubles point against #38 Columbia, #59 USF, #31 Tennessee, NC State and Louisville on its way to winning the match. The Jackets won the doubles point against #19 Oklahoma State, #3 Georgia and #67 Florida State but fell in those matches.
Jackets in the Rankings
The Yellow Jackets jumped up 12 spots in this week’s ITA rankings to #45 after being ranked #57 last week. The Jackets have two singles players and two doubles duos ranked.
Freshmanchecks in at #70 in the singles rankings this week. Hourigan is 4-2 on court two in singles and is 6-4 in dual match play. She has gone 2-2 on court one. Freshmanis the #92 ranked singles player. Renaud 5-7 so far this spring and has played at both the number one and two positions.
Hourigan and juniormoved up to #22 in the doubles rankings after being ranked at #35. Hourgian and Woodard are undefeated this season at 6-0 on both courts one and two and have defeated two nationally ranked opponents. Freshman and sophomoreare ranked #74 with a 1-3 dual match record on court two. The duo picked up a win against the 13thranked doubles team against Georgia.
Next Up
The Yellow Jackets return home to the Ken Byers Tennis Complex on April 3 to host Virginia Tech at 2 p.m. before heading to Clemson on April 4 at 2:30 p.m.
