March 9, 2011
ATLANTA – On a perfect day for indoor tennis in Atlanta, the Georgia Tech men’s tennis team put together a clean team score sheet and earned a 4-0 win against the visiting William & Mary Tribe at the Bill Moore Tennis Center. With the win, the Yellow Jackets improve to 9-1 on the season while the loss drops the Tribe to 9-9 on the campaign.
“We came out in doubles and started out very well on all three courts,” head coach Kenny Thorne said. “I think we had a little bit of a let up and they started playing better midway through the doubles. I’d like to clean our play up before tomorrow to see if we can start and finish well. I have to give credit to their team. They really started playing well in the doubles as well, and had as much to do with us not playing well as we did.”
Georgia Tech landed the first strike with an 8-5 win at the third spot of the doubles lineup from the Yellow Jacket tandem of Guillermo Gomez and Dean O’Brien.
While the seniors raced out to a win on court three, the Yellow Jackets had to battle for wins on courts one and two. The Yellow Jacket team of sophomore Juan Spir and junior Kevin King clinched the doubles point for Tech with an 8-6 win at the top of the lineup. Seniors Eliot Potvin and Ryan Smith completed the Yellow Jacket sweep shortly after with an 8-6 win of their own on court two.
“In the singles, we were good,” Thorne added. “Guillermo [Gomez] got down early and came back. Kevin [King] has been playing well for us, and came out and did a great job in finishing off his match. He’s been stepping up and doing some very good things for us. Getting a point on the board quick to go up 2-0 was key for us as well. For Dusan [Miljevic] to finish out the way he did was good. It was his first match in a little bit. He got down a set, but kept playing, and got back up and finished it off. I think it was key that he clinched the match for us. Congrats to him.’
With only three indoor courts, singles play began with the No. 2, 4 and 6 matches first.
Junior Kevin King got the Yellow Jackets off to a quick start in singles play with a decisive 6-1, 6-4 win over William & Mary’s Ilja Orre from the number four spot of the lineup.
Senior Guillermo Gomez fell behind early in his singles match, but battled back for a 6-4, 6-3 win from the second spot in the lineup to put the Jackets up 3-0.
Junior Dusan Miljevic saw his first action since Jan. 30 and played the sixth spot. The Novi Sad, Serbia, native fell behind early and lost his first set 6-2. Thorne thought Miljevic “was close and his mind was sharp, he just made a few unforced errors,” and Miljevic rebounded to win the next two sets, 6-4, 6-4 and clinch the match for the Yellow Jackets.
Georgia Tech will play its final non-conference match of the season tomorrow when the Yellow Jackets face the Illinois State Redbirds at 2:30 p.m. at the Bill Moore Tennis Center. The Jackets will then head south and return to ACC play against Miami on Sunday, March 13.
Thursday’s match is open and free to the public.
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Match Results
William & Mary vs. #16 Georgia Tech
March 9, 2011 at Atlanta, Ga.
#16 Georgia Tech 4, William & Mary 0
Singles competition:
1. #50 Juan Spir (GT) vs. Anton Andersson (WM)
2. #16 Guillermo Gomez (GT) def. Jamie Whiteford (WM), 6-4, 6-3
3. Eliot Potvin (GT) vs. Sebastien Vidal (WM), 5-5 uf
4. Kevin King (GT) def. Ilja Orre (WM), 6-1, 6-4
5. Dean O’Brien (GT) vs. Daniel Mihalov (WM), 6-3, 2-1 uf
6. Dusan Miljevic (GT) def. Adrian Vodislav (WM), 2-6, 6-4, 6-4
Doubles competition:
1. #15 Juan Spir/Kevin King (GT) def. Sebastien Vidal/Ben Guthrie (WM), 8-6
2. Eliot Potvin/Ryan Smith (GT) def. John Banks/Ilje Orre (WM), 8-6
3. Guillermo Gomez/Dean O’Brien (GT) def. Jamie Whiteford/Anton Andersson (WM), 8-5
Match Notes:
William & Mary: 9-9
#16 Georgia Tech: 9-1
Order of finish: Doubles (3,1,2); Singles (4, 2, 6)
Match played indoors
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