Feb. 27, 2004
After suffering its first two losses of the season, the No. 55 Georgia Tech (5-2) men’s tennis team turns its attention to conference action traveling to face No. 15 Duke (6-4) Saturday at 2:30 p.m. and then No. 38 Wake Forest (4-4) Sunday at 1 p.m.
“We had a tough weekend up north against the best team in the nation in Illinois and a team that played very well in Louisville,” said head coach Kenny Thorne. “But, this weekend is an opportunity for our team to refocus and turn their attention to conference matches. Duke has played a great schedule and is a very good team this season and every year our match against Wake Forest is very close and comes down to the last singles match or to the doubles point. I expect much of the same this weekend.”
Against Duke, the Jackets have struggled, holding an all-time record of 6-31 against the Blue Devils including a 5-2 decision to Duke in 2003.
Tech owns an 18-10 advantage over the Demon Deacons, but dropped a close 4-3 decision last season.
Scott Schnugg was Tech’s lone winner last week in singles action while West Nott and Jason Pieters paired together to win a match at No. 2 doubles against Louisville.
To date, the Jackets have been led by Schnugg, who has posted a 6-1 record in dual matches while Pieters and Nott each 5-2 records this season in singles matches. With a 10-4 singles record, Jose Luis Muguruza is ranked No. 90 in singles action in the latest ITA rankings. On the doubles side, the tandem of Schnugg and Marko Rajevac own a 4-2 record at No. 1 doubles and are currently ranked No. 15 in the ITA rankings.
