March 2, 2018
THE FLATS – Under the lights of the Ken Byers Tennis Complex amongst gusty winds and 50 degree temperatures, Georgia Tech men’s tennis got an impressive 4-3 victory over Miami on Friday evening.
The Yellow Jackets (4-7, 1-1 ACC) snapped their own skid while ending the Hurricanes’ (6-3, 0-1 ACC) winning streak at five matches.
En route to the doubles point, the duo of Elijah Melendez and Daniel Yun battled to a swift, 6-2 win at the No. 2 spot, over Miami’s Nile Clark and Pablo Aycart. Securing the point and capturing their third-straight win was the team of Michael Kay and Carlos Divar, who downed Bojan Jankulovski and Adria Soriano, 6-2, to put the Jackets up 1-0.
Nothing came easy for Tech in singles, with only one match not containing a third set or a tiebreak. That match featured D. Yun quickly dealing Niclas Genovese just his second loss of the season at the No. 6 position, 6-2, 6-3.
Andrew Li then battled to a hard-fought win at the No. 4 spot. Facing off against Piotr Lomacki, Li took the first set, 6-2, before Lomacki forced a 6-all tiebreak in the second set. Once in the tiebreak, the two traded shots for the better part of the match, before Li was finally able to seal the victory, taking the break, 8-6.
Senior Michael Kay improved to 7-3 in dual matches this season with a three-set grind at the No. 5 spot. Kay took the first set, 7-5, before Dane Dunlap battled back in the second with a 6-3 win. Once in the third, Kay maintained perfect form on his volleys to take the set, 6-0, and clinch the match for Georgia Tech.
At the No. 2 position, Phillip Gresk fought in a back-and-forth affair against Miami’s Adria Soriano. Soriano took the first set in a tough 7-5 decision, before Gresk retaliated in the second by forcing a 6-all tiebreak. Even in the tiebreak, the lead see-sawed between the two players before Gresk won out. Unfortunately, Soriano edged Gresk in the third and deciding set, 6-4, to put the Hurricanes up on the board.
After taking the first set, 6-4, Carlos Divar was unable to hang on at the No. 1 as Christian Langmo captured 6-4 and 6-3 sets to get the win. Elijah Melendez also dropped sets two and three after earning a 6-3 decision in the first set of his match against Bojan Jankulovski.
The Yellow Jackets are right back at it on Saturday, March 3 at the Ken Byers Tennis Complex. Tech hosts in-state foe Georgia State with first serve scheduled for 2 p.m.
NOTES:
Andrew Li is now one singles victory shy of 40, sitting at 39-35 overall record … Carlos Divar and Michael Kay moved to 12-4 overall on the year and 8-2 in dual matches … Divar/Kay are 8-2 in their last 10 matches … Kay is just four doubles victories away from tying Guillermo Gomez (64 – 2008-11) for 13th all-time in program history … Despite sitting at exactly .500 as a team in dual matches this season, Georgia Tech is winning 60.7 (17-11) percent of its doubles matches this season … Since the start of February, Kay has three out of four singles matches, all battling through three sets.
For the latest information on Georgia Tech Men’s Tennis, follow us on Twitter (@GT_MTEN), Instagram (GT_MTEN), Facebook (Georgia Tech Men’s Tennis) or visit us at www.ramblinwreck.com.
