March 17, 2016
The No. 19 Georgia Tech women’s tennis team (9-5, 4-1) hits the road for an ACC match, traveling to No. 60 Florida State (8-6, 0-4) on Friday at 4 p.m. on ESPN3.
Against the Opponent
Series vs. Florida State: Florida State leads the all-time series 19-13. The Yellow Jackets have won four of the past five, including last year’s meeting in the semifinals of the ACC Tournament.
Four-Straight ACC Victories
The Yellow Jackets have won four-straight ACC matches, defeating No. 44 NC State, 6-1, at home and winning 6-1 at Boston College before coming home to defeat No. 30 Syracuse 7-0 and No. 22 Wake Forest, 5-2. Georgia Tech had lost its first conference match at No. 11 Miami, 7-0. Four Yellow Jackets are 4-1 in conference singles – Paige Hourigan, Rasheeda McAdoo, Aleixs Prokopuik and Kendal Woodard while Johnnise Renaud is 4-0 at the No. 1 spot.
A Look at the Yellow Jackets
Sophomore has won a team-best 10 single dual matches and is 10-2 so far this spring. Renaud is undefeated on court two at 4-0 and has gone 6-2 on court one. Against No. 6 Ohio State she recorded the Jackets only point with a singles win and then did the same against No. 4 Georgia, defeating No. 12 Ellen Perez, , 6-0, 4-6, 6-4. Both sophomore and junior have each won five-straight singles matches.
Renaud and McAdoo are 9-3 in doubles, going 8-3 on court two, and picking up a win at the number one spot. The No. 21 doubles team of senior Kendall Woodard and Hourigan are 8-2 on court one in 2016 and are undefeated in doubles against ACC opponents at 5-0.
ACC Players of the Week
Two Yellow Jackets have already been named ACC Player of the Week. Most recently, sophomore picked up the honor after going 4-0 in singles and doubles at two ranked opponents –No. 59 Tennessee and No. 6 Ohio State. Junior was the first ACC Player of the Week of the senior after going 2-0 in GT’s season-opening win against UAB. Both Jackets received the award for the first time in their careers.
In the Rankings
The Yellow Jackets shot up 15 spots in this week’s ITA Team Rankings and are ranked 19th, a season-high. Previously, highest the Jackets were ranked this season was at No. 23 on Jan. 5. Earlier this season, sophomore moved up 24 spots in the singles rankings to No. 37 after winning five-straight matches, including defeating No. 12 Elles Perez of Georgia. She is now ranked No. 36.
Sophomore made her debut in the singles rankings, jumping in at No. 80. Junior checks in at No. 95 on the singles rankings. The doubles duo of and moved up on the doubles list from No. 58 to No. 21.
Facing Ranked Opponents
The Yellow Jackets are 5-5 when facing ranked opponents so far this season, defeating No. 46 William & Mary, No. 59 Tennessee, No. 44 NC State, No. 30 Syracuse and No. 22 Wake Forest. Four of the five losses were to top-25 teams.
Doubles Point
The Yellow Jackets have won the doubles point in eight matches this season and are 8-0 when taking the first point of the match. The Yellow Jackets are 1-5 when losing the doubles point, having lost to No. 21 LSU, No. 11 Miami, No. 6 Ohio State, No. 4 Georgia and No. 53 Northwestern. This season the Yellow Jackets dropped the doubles point to No. 22 Wake Forest but rebounded to win the match, 5-2.
