Feb. 6, 2007
ATLANTA – Two days after the Georgia Tech women’s team captured its first national indoor tennis title, the Yellow Jackets achieved another “first” in school history: The eight-member team, coached by former Tech All-American Bryan Shelton, became the first women’s team in the history of Georgia Tech to earn a No. 1 National Ranking.
The Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) polls, which were released Tuesday afternoon, placed the Yellow Jackets at No. 1, with all 10 first-place votes, ahead of No. 2 Stanford and third-ranked Notre Dame, the two teams Georgia Tech defeated in the semifinals and finals of this past weekend’s USTA/ITA National Indoor Team Championship.
“We are still riding high from this weekend and our success in Wisconsin, winning the national title,” said Shelton. “It has been great coming home with so many people leaving congratulatory messages, phone calls and text messages.”
Georgia Tech’s jump from No. 6 ended Stanford’s stranglehold on the top spot at 47-straight ranking periods, dating back to Feb. 10, 2004. Saturday night, the Yellow Jackets ended Stanford’s NCAA-record winning streak at 89. The Yellow Jackets are just the seventh different women’s program to achieve a No. 1 ranking in the last 20 years, joining Duke, Georgia, Florida, Southern California, Stanford and Texas.
“I think that our program is very deserving of the No. 1 national ranking at this point in time,” continued Shelton, “however, I think that this will be a long road for us. Our focus is to continue to improve as the season goes along, as the competition will get better and we know that people will be gunning for us.”
The Yellow Jackets will be honored at Tuesday night’s men’s basketball game vs. N.C. State, and continue their season this weekend in Illinois against No. 6 Northwestern, No. 25 William and Mary and Illinois. Tech’s first home match will be against Feb. 17 Auburn at 12 noon.
Women’s tennis Fila/Intercollegiate Tennis Association Division I top 25: 1. Georgia Tech 2. Stanford 3. Notre Dame 4. Florida 5. Southern California 6. Northwestern 7. North Carolina 8 .Miami (Fla.) 9. California 10. Baylor 11. Duke 12. Va. Commonwealth 13. Pepperdine 14. Clemson 15. UCLA 16. TCU 17. Georgia 18. Wake Forest 19. Kentucky 20. Texas 21. Michigan 22. Arizona State 23. Vanderbilt 24. Fresno State 25. William & Mary
