April 16, 2015
Live Stats: Pitt | Syracuse (will be updated once links are available)
The #25 Georgia Tech women’s tennis team (11-8, 7-5 ACC) closes out the 2015 regular season on the road, traveling to Pittsburgh (2-15, 0-12 ACC) on Friday at 5 p.m. and to Syracuse (7-11, 2-10 ACC) on Sunday at 11 a.m.
Scouting the Opponents
Pittsburgh (2-15, 0-12 ACC)
Series: Georgia Tech leads 1-0
Georgia Tech and Pittsburgh will meet for only the second time in school history on Friday. Last season in the first ever meeting between the two teams, the Yellow Jackets blanked the Panthers, 7-0, at home. Pittsburgh is still searching for its first conference win and captured victories against Duquesne and Eastern Michigan this season.
Syracuse (7-11, 2-10 ACC)
Series: Georgia Tech leads 2-0
The Yellow Jackets will try for their third-straight win in the series against Syracuse this weekend. The Yellow Jackets defeated the Orange last season, 7-0, and 4-3 in a nonconference match in 2013. Syracuse has two ACC victories this season after defeating Pittsburgh, 5-2, and Louisville, 4-2. The Orange’s double duo of Komal Safdar and Valeria Salazar Garza are ranked #73 in the ITA doubles rankings.
Hourgian, Woodard 13th in the Nation
The Yellow Jacket doubles duo of freshman Paige Hourigan and junior Kendal Woodard are the #13th ranked doubles duo in the country. The two have gone 7-1 in conference play, 9-1 on court one, 3-0 on court twoand 12-2 overall this season. Hourigan and Woodard have beaten five nationally ranked opponents including #21 Quinn Gleason/Monica Robinson from #32 Notre Dame, #3 Beatrice Gumulya and Jessy Rompies from #22 Clemson, #25 Gabrielle De Santis/Sandy Niehaus from #27 Ohio State, #39 Alicia Barnett/Erin Larner from #23 Northwestern and #31 Cassie Mercer and Skylar Morton from #12 Virginia. They are 9-1 in their last 10 matches and are on a five match win streak.
Spotlight on Rasheeda McAdoo
Sophomore Rasheeda McAdoo went a perfect 3-0 in singles and 3-0 in doubles as the Yellow Jackets upset #23 Northwestern and blanked #49 Boston College, 7-0 last week. McAdoo and doubles partner Johnnise Renaud edged Alex Chatt and Loke Sze Leung, 8-6, on court three to clinch the doubles win for Georgia Tech against #23 Northwestern. McAdoo’s single win on court six against Brooke Rischbieth, 6-2, 6-2, put the Jackets up 3-1 and in position to clinch the match. Renaud and McAdoo also secured the doubles point for Tech against Boston College with an 8-3 win on court three. McAdoo’s 6-2, 6-4 victory on court five against Heini Salonen clinched the ACC victory for Tech. Against #12 Virginia, McAdoo was instrumental in scoring both of Georgia Tech’s points in the 5-2 loss. McAdoo and Renaud defeated #87 Stephanie Nauta and Maci Epstein 8-2 on the way to the Jackets winning the doubles point. McAdoo was the lone Jacket to score a singles win, defeating Cassie Mercer, 6-3, 6-2 on court five.
Upsets
The Yellow Jackets defeated #23 Northwestern, 5-2, at home last week. The win marked Georgia Tech’s fourth victory against a higher ranked opponent in the past eight matches, which included victories against #32 Notre Dame, #17 Duke and #34 Virginia Tech.
Moving Back Up
The Yellow Jackets dropped down to as low #57 in the ITA rankings as after starting the season out ranked #18. Tech has been slowly climbing back up the rankings, checking in at #25 this week, after picking up some impressive ACC wins and defeating #23 Northwestern. The Yellow Jackets have won six out of the past eight matches, including wins against #17 Duke, 4-3, #34 Virginia Tech, 7-0 and #23 Northwestern,5-2.
Ranked Opponents
Out of Georgia Tech’s 19 dual match opponents, 16 have been ranked in the top 75 of the ITA’s weekly rankings. The Yellow Jackets have faced five top-20 teams, including the #1 team, North Carolina, and #3 Georgia. Georgia Tech has gone 8-8 against teams ranked in the top 75 in the ITA rankings.
Georgia Tech has picked up eight wins against ranked opponents -#17 Duke, #23 Northwestern, #31 Tennessee, #32 Notre Dame, #34 Virginia Tech, #38 Columbia, #49 Boston College and #59 USF.
ACC Standings
The #25 Jackets currently are seventh in the ACC standings after competing in 12 ACC matches thus far. #1 North Carolina sits atop the conference standings with a 12-0 record. #16 Miami is in second (10-2), #23 Duke sits in third (9-2) and #12 Virginia is fourth (9-3). #21Clemson claims fifth with a 9-4 record while #33 Notre Dame is one spot of the Jackets with an 8-4 record. The Jackets are seventh with a 7-5 mark against ACC competition.
Who clinched the match?
In Georgia Tech’s 11 wins this season, each Yellow Jacket has clinched the deciding point at least once. Junior Natasha Prokhnevska, freshman Johnnise Renaud freshman Paige Hourigan and sophomore Rasheeda McAdoo have each clinched a team-best two matches. At the number three singles spot, Prokhnevska clinched the wins against #59 South Florida and NC State. Renaud’s win on court one against Wake Forest clinched the victory on the way to a 7-0 Tech victory and her win against Virginia Tech also secured a 7-0 victory. Hourigan won the deciding match against #31 Tennessee on court one and #23 Northwestern on court two. Sophomore Rasheeda McAdoo clinched a match on court three, defeating her opponent against #18 Columbia, and her two-set win against Boston College’s Heini Salonen secured Tech’s win.
Junior Kendal Woodard’s 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. Against #17 Duke, sophomore Alexa Anton-Ohlmeyer clinched the first match of her career, for her win on court five broke a 3-3 tie and helped the Jackets upset the #17 Blue Devils.
Dominant in Doubles
The Yellow Jackets have won the doubles point in 14 of 19 matches and are 9-5 when winning the doubles point. The Jackets are 2-3 when losing the doubles point and came back to defeat #32 Notre Dame and #17 Duke after dropping the doubles point. Tech won the doubles point against #38 Columbia, #59 USF, #31 Tennessee, NC State, Louisville, Wake Forest, #34 Virginia Tech, #23 Northwestern and #49 Boston College on its way to winning the match. The Jackets won the doubles point against #19 Oklahoma State, #3 Georgia, #67 Florida State, #22 Clemson and #12 Virginia but fell in those matches.
Jackets in the Rankings
The Yellow Jackets jumped up 10 spots in this week’s ITA rankings to #25. The Jackets have two singles players and one doubles duos ranked.
Freshman Paige Hourigan moved up a spot to #55 in the singles rankings this week. Hourigan is 9-4 on court two in singles and is 11-6 in dual match play. She is 5-5 against nationally ranked players. Freshman Johnnise Renaud jumped up to #98 ranked singles player. Renaud is 9-10 so far this spring and has played mainly on court one, gong 7-8.
Hourigan and junior Kendal Woodard moved up to #13 in the doubles rankings after taking down the #3-ranked doubles pair from Clemson. Hourgian and Woodard are 12-1 on both courts one and two and have defeated five nationally ranked opponents.
Next Up
The Yellow Jackets head to the ACC Tournament in Cary N.C. The tournament runs from April 23-26.
