April 14, 2004
After completing the regular season with two non-conference wins last week, the No. 26 Georgia Tech men’s tennis team heads to the Atlantic Coast Conference Championship this weekend. The Jackets (15-6, 5-3 ACC), seeded fourth, will face No. 45 Clemson (21-10, 4-4 ACC) Friday at 12 p.m. at the Millbrook Exchange Tennis Center in Raleigh, NC.
In their previous meeting this season, Tech defeated the Tigers by a 4-3 score. In that match, the Jackets won the doubles point, and is a perfect 13-0 this season when winning the doubles point.
“I expect our match against Clemson is going to be very, very tough,” said head coach Kenny Thorne, who is 4-5 in the ACC Tournament at the helm of the Yellow Jackets. “Our match earlier this season was a battle. In doubles, we fought off three match points to win the doubles point in a tiebreaker and then in singles we had four matches go to three sets and the end result could have easily gone the other way.”
Last season the Jackets fell in the quarterfinals to Florida State by a 4-3 score. In 2002, Tech reached the finals of the tournament before losing to North Carolina, 4-3. Tech has reached the finals of the ACC Tournament four times but has never captured the league title.
Senior Scott Schnugg, who is ranked 46th in the latest ITA poll, will lead the Yellow Jackets intot the 2004 event, as he is first on the team with a 24-10 singles record and is 15-6 in dual matches at the No. 1 spot. In doubles action, Schnugg has teamed with Marko Rajevac to form Tech’s top doubles tandem with a 11-7 record in the spring and a 16-10 overall mark and the duo is currently ranked 15th in the latest ITA poll.
West Nott has also been one of the Jackets’ top singles performers this season, posting a 15-5 dual match record and a 21-11 overall mark this year, while playing primarily at the No. 4 spot in the lineup.
“There is so much parity in our conference from top to bottom that I think this will be a very exciting tournament,” said Thorne. “There are a number of teams that could win it this year and our guys are working to be that team.”
Full results from the ACC Men’s Tennis Championship will be available at www.theacc.com with a full recap of all Tech matches posted at www.ramblinwreck.com.
