Jan. 29, 2009
ATLANTA – – The Georgia Tech men’s tennis team (2-1) continues its road-stretch this weekend at the ITA National Team Indoor Qualifier in Waco, Texas. The Jackets will square off against San Diego State (0-1) at 12 p.m. CT Friday at the Baylor Tennis Center, with the winner facing either No. 7 Baylor or Utah Saturday at 4 p.m. CT.
“The National Indoor Tournament provides a great chance and a great opportunity for us to do well,” head coach Kenny Thorne said. “We hope to do well against some of the top teams in the country.”
The Jackets, led by 14th-ranked Guillermo Gomez, will look to get back on track after falling 5-2 at South Carolina last Saturday. Gomez is 17-3 in singles and 7-5 in doubles play on the year. Freshman Kevin King is off to a strong start to the 2009 season with a perfect 6-0 record in singles and doubles play combined.
Friday’s matchup with the Aztecs will be just the second meeting in school history between the two, SDSU having won the first meeting 5-2 back in 1991. San Diego State fell to Hawaii, 6-1, in its only dual match of the 2009 season.
“San Diego State is traditionally a good program,” Thorne added. “We don’t play them on a normal basis so it is great to have the opportunity.”
The winner of the Tech/SDSU match will face the winner of the Baylor/Utah match on Saturday. The losers of both matches will square off on Sunday.
The seventh-ranked Bears (1-1) enter the weekend at home for the first time this season, after starting dual match play with a 4-3 win over SMU and a 7-0 loss to No. 10 Florida, both on the road. The host Bears currently have four nationally ranked, including No. 13 Jordan Rux with a 1-1 singles record.
Utah is currently undefeated in the No. 2, 4, 5, and 6 singles positions during dual-match play and is unbeaten in doubles, with a 9-0 record. The Utes are led by senior Wes Hancock who is unbeaten at 3-0 on the spring season.
Tech is 1-0 all-time against Utah and 1-1 all-time against Baylor. The Jackets defeated the Bears 6-3 in 1990, but fell 6-1 in the last match during the 2007 season.
