April 7, 2015
The #35 Georgia Tech women’s tennis team (9-7, 6-4 ACC) hosts the first of three home matches this week on Wednesday, welcoming #23 Northwestern (10-5, 5-2 Big Ten) to the Ken Byers Tennis Complex at 3 pm. Fans that attend the match will receive a free tennis bag while supplies last.
Scouting the Opponent
#23 Northwestern (10-5, 5-2 Big Ten)
Series: Northwestern leads 7-4
The Yellow Jackets and Wildcats meet for the 12th time on the court and for the ninth-straight season on Wednesday. The Yellow Jackets have won three of the past four meetings, but lost in last year’s contest, 7-0, to the ninth-ranked Wildcats in Chicago. The Wildcats have won six out of their past seven matches.
Northwestern has two doubles pairings then check in in the top 90 rankings. Alicia Barnett and Erin Larner are ranked 39th after going a perfect 5-0 pm court one. At #70 is Brooke Rischbieth and Rheeya Doshi, who are also undefeated as a duo at 4-0 pm court two. Barnett has played at the number one spot in singles and is 5-9 so far this season. Larner has seen action on court two, with a 6-6 record.
Hourgian, Woodard 17th in the Nation
The Yellow Jacket duo of freshman Paige Hourigan and junior Kendal Woodard are the #17th ranked doubles duo in the country. The two have gone 5-1 in conference play, 6-1 on court one and 3-0 on court two this season. Hourigan and Woodard have beaten three nationally ranked opponents including #21 Quinn Gleason/Monica Robinson from #32 Notre Dame, #3 Beatrice Gumulya and Jessy Rompies from #22 Clemson and #25 Gabrielle De Santis/Sandy Niehaus from #27 Ohio State.
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 #35 this week, after picking up some impressive ACC wins. The Yellow Jackets have won four out of the past five matches, including wins against #17 Duke, 4-3 and #34 Virginia Tech, 7-0.
Ranked Opponents
Out of Georgia Tech’s 16 dual match opponents, 13 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. Tech’s next three opponents are ranked – #23 Northwestern, #49 Boston College and #12 Virginia.
Georgia Tech has picked up six wins against ranked opponents -#17 Duke, #31 Tennessee, #32 Notre Dame, #34 Virginia Tech, #38 Columbia and #59 USF.
ACC Standings
The #36 Jackets currently are eighth in the ACC standings after competing in 10 ACC matches thus far. #2 North Carolina sits atop the conference standings with a 11-0 record. #17 Miami, #22 Duke and #12 Virginia are tied for second with 8-2 records #20 Clemson and #31 Notre Dame are tied for third with 8-3 records.#49 Boston College is in seventh with a 7-4 mark in conference play and #35 Georgia Tech sits in eighth with a 6-4 mark in ACC competition.
Who clinched the match?
In Georgia Tech’s nine wins this season, each Yellow Jacket as clinched the deciding point at least once. Junior and freshman Johnnies Renaud 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.
Sophomore also clinched a match on court three, defeating her opponent against #18 Columbia. Freshman won the deciding match against #31 Tennessee on court one. Junior win on court four against Louisville secured Georgia Tech’s victory. Freshman 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 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 11 of 16 matches and are 7-4 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 and Virginia Tech on its way to winning the match. The Jackets won the doubles point against #19 Oklahoma State, #3 Georgia, #67 Florida State and #22 Clemson, but fell in those matches.
Jackets in the Rankings
The Yellow Jackets slid up one spot in this week’s ITA rankings to #35. The Jackets have two singles players and one doubles duos ranked.
Freshman checks in at #56 in the singles rankings this week. Hourigan is 7-3 on court two in singles and is 9-5 in dual match play. She is 5-4 against nationally ranked players. Freshman is the #104 ranked singles player. Renaud is 7-9 so far this spring and has played mainly on court one, gong 5-7.
Hourigan and junior moved up to #17 in the doubles rankings after taking down the #3-ranked doubles pair from Clemson. Hourgian and Woodard are 9-1 on both courts one and two and have defeated three nationally ranked opponents.
Next Up
The Yellow Jackets finish out their home schedule this weekend at the Ken Byers Tennis Complex, hosting Boston College on Friday, April 10 at 4 p.m. and Virginia on Sunday, April 12 at noon.
