March 29, 2011
ATLANTA – On the heels of getting two big victories at home, Georgia Tech’s 19th-ranked men’s tennis team goes on the road this week for three important Atlantic Coast Conference matches at Clemson, Boston College and Maryland.
Live scoring link for Clemson match
Georgia Tech Men’s Tennis site
The Yellow Jackets visit the 58th-ranked Tigers is at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday, the Eagles at 2:30 p.m. Friday, and the 43rd-ranked Terrapins at 12 noon Sunday. Tech improved to 12-2 overall, 3-1 in the ACC, by defeating NC State and Wake Forest last weekend, losing just one singles match and one doubles match in the process.
The Jackets have just two home matches left in the regular season, five on the road.
“We have an opportunity at Clemson to be the best competitors on the road,” said head coach Kenny Thorne. “We will find out real soon what the rest of the season holds for us. If we compete like champions on the road then we can do great things this year. If we give in, then we will be mediocre. Mediocrity is every coaches and should be every athletes nightmare.
“A great opportunity awaits us in these next three away matches. With only two more home matches, we must take care of things on the road. I am extremely confident that our guys know what is expected and they will respond. We look forward to the challenge.”
Tech has won its last four matches in the series with Clemson, including a 7-0 shutout at home last spring.
TECH UPDATE: No. 1 singles player Guillermo Gomez is ranked No. 16, and No. 2 player Juan Spir is No. 67 in the most recent ITA national rankings. The Yellow Jackets’ doubles team of Kevin King and Juan Spir is ranked No. 14.
All-American Gomez has won six straight matches, including all four ACC contests, and 10 of his last 11 to improve his record to 12-2 in the spring, 23-6 overall. The senior from Alicante, Spain, has 108 career singles victories, four shy of Thorne’s career mark of 112.
Kevin King has also won six straight matches and is 11-1 this spring. The junior from Peachtree City, Ga., has played his last three matches at No. 3 in the lineup, winning all of them after going 7-1 at No. 4.
Spir, a sophomore from Medellin, Colombia, playing No. 2 for the Jackets, is 2-2 in ACC play. He is 9-4 in the spring, 20-8 overall. Senior Eliot Potvin is 9-4 this spring for the Yellow Jackets, moving from No. 3 to No. 4 in the last three matches.
Sophomore Magin Ortiga and senior Dean O’Brien played No. 5 and 6 for the Yellow Jackets in both matches last weekend, and each has won four consecutive matches.
Spir and King are 9-3 in doubles matches this spring, having defeated five ranked tandems out of 24 total victories this year. Gomez and Dean O’Brien, who play No. 3 doubles, have the Jackets’ best spring record at 12-2, while Potvin and Ryan Smith are 9-3 at No. 2.
ACC UPDATE: Three teams are undefeated in conference play heading into this week’s action, including top-ranked Virginia (5-0), North Carolina and Duke (both 4-0). Miami is in fourth place at 4-1, followed by the Yellow Jackets at 3-1.
THIS WEEK’S OPPONENTS: Clemson is 1-3 in conference play, 14-5 overall, and defeated NC State on Sunday for their first ACC win. Boston College is 4-11 in all matches, 0-5 in the ACC, while Maryland is 1-4 in ACC matches, with its lone conference win against Boston College, and 9-7 overall.
