THE FLATS – Georgia Tech men’s tennis dropped their first home conference loss of the 2021 season in a 6-1 contest with Duke on Friday afternoon at the Ken Byers Tennis Complex.
The Yellow Jackets (6-4, 1-2 ACC) saw redshirt sophomore Pablo Schelcher pick up Techs’ lone point on the day in a third set tiebreaker to beat the Blue Devils’ (3-2, 1-0 ACC) Andrew Zhang 7-6 (7), 3-6, 1-0 (7), in singles on court four. Schelcher improved to 5-2 in dual match singles play this year, winning his second consecutive singles match.
Redshirt freshman Andres Martin and true freshman Chen Dong teamed up in doubles to takecourt three in a 6-1 routing of Faris Khan/Niroop Vallabhaneni. Dong and Martin are 2-0 this year when paired together. Then, No. 55 Garrett Johns/Sean Sculley beat No. 31 Schelcher/redshirt freshman Marcus McDaniel, 6-3 on court one. The Blue Devils captured the doubles point as Edu Guell/Luca Keist topped Keshav Chopra/Brandon McKinney, 7-5 on court two.
The Jackets lost courts six, five and one before Schelcher got Tech on the board. McDaniel is now 8-1 in dual match singles following his 6-2, 4-6, 6-4, loss to Garrett Johns. Dong also suffered his first dual match singles loss of the year moving to 4-1.
Overall Tech is still above .500 in dual match singles play with a .655 (36-19) win percentage. The Yellow Jackets sit a 14-13 in dual match doubles play and have a 1-4 record in ACC doubles matches.
Tech will lace it up and be back on the court this Sunday as the Jackets host No. 1 ranked North Carolina. First serve is slotted for noon (EST).
Singles competition:
1. Garrett Johns (Duke) def. Marcus McDaniel (GT) 6-2, 4-6, 6-4
2. Edu Guell (Duke) def. #59 Andres Martin (M-GT) 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (5)
3. Sean Sculley (Duke) def. Keshav Chopra (M-GT) 6-7 (3), 7-6 (4) 1-0 (7).
4. Pablo Schelcher (M-GT) def. Andrew Zhang (Duke) 7-6 (7), 3-6, 1-0 (7)
5. Faris Khan (Duke) def. Brandon McKinney (M-GT) 6-3, 7-6 (10)
6. Michael Heller (Duke) def. Chen Dong (M-GT) 6-2, 6-1
Doubles competition:
1. No. 55 Garrett Johns/Sean Sculley (Duke) def. No. 31 Pablo Schelcher/Marcus McDaniel (M-GT) 6-3
2. Edu Guell/Luca Keist (Duke) def. Brandon McKinney/Keshav Chopra (M-GT) 7-5
3. Andres Martin/Chen Dong (M-GT) def. Faris Khan/Niroop Vallabhaneni (Duke)6-1
Match Info
Georgia Tech 6-4, 1-2 ACC
Duke University 3-2, 1-0 ACC
Order of finish: Doubles (3,1,2); Singles (6, 5, 1, 4, 2, 3)
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