Jan. 27, 2008
Gardner-Webb Results
Lipscomb Results
ATLANTA – The Georgia Tech men’s tennis team (2-0) opened its 2008 dual-match season with a pair of 7-0 wins over Lipscomb (0-3) and Gardner-Webb (0-1) at the Bill Moore Tennis Center Sunday afternoon.
The Yellow Jackets opened the day by sweeping the doubles matches against Lipscomb. Guillermo Gomez and George Gvelesiani finished their match first with an 8-2 win over Andy Mizell and Josh Cummings. Miguel Muguruza and Eliot Potvin were successful in their dual-match doubles debut, defeating Joe McArdle and Jeff West, 8-3, to give Tech a 1-0 lead over the Bison.
Freshman Ryan Smith opened singles play with a dominating 6-0, 6-1 win over James Murrell at the third position. Gomez gave the Jackets a 3-0 advantage after taking care of McArdle, 6-0, 6-2, in the top spot in the line-up. Senior Scott Blackmon sealed Tech’s first victory of the season by defeating Daniel Hangstefer, 6-1, 6-3, from the No. 2 spot.
“Four out of the six players in doubles were freshman and three of our six singles were freshman,” head coach Kenny Thorne said. “We hoped for the best going into the first match, trying to play as solid as possible. We were competing well, and we closed out the matches well. The guys worked very hard all fall, and it is starting to pay off now. We had solid play throughout the course of the match.”
In the second match of the doubleheader, the Jackets again swept the doubles matches. Gomez and Gvelesiani opened up with a strong 8-4 win over Taylor Ferrier and Grant Van Rensburg of Gardner Webb. Blackman and Smith secured the point with an 8-6 win over Evgeny Slesarev and Andrew Veeder in the number one doubles match.
The freshman dominated the Bulldogs as Potvin, Gomez, Smith, and Miguel Muguruza earned singles wins. Potvin defeated Van Rensburg with a score of 7-5, 6-0. Gomez won for the second time today in the number one singles position with a 6-1, 6-4 win over Slesarev. Seniors Jose Muguruza (4-6, 6-3, 6-4) and Scott Blackman (6-7, 6-2, 6-2) earned tough three set wins to complete the sweep of the Bulldogs.
“I was impressed with the way everyone competed against Gardner-Webb,” Thorne said. “I thought it would be tough on the team coming from indoors to out, but it was not as bad as I expected. They handled it very well and it was a great day to play outside. Gardner-Webb came out and played well. They are a good team. We took control midway through the doubles matches and continued it during the singles matches. This was definitely a good way to start the season.”
The Jackets will continue their season Sunday, Feb. 3 in another doubleheader at home against USC Upstate (10 a.m.) and Georgia Southern (2 p.m.). On Wednesday, February 10, the Mississippi State Bulldogs will travel to Atlanta to take on the Jackets in a noon start.
– RamblinWreck.com –
