March 6, 2010
ATLANTA – Facing a squad ranked in the nation’s top 55 for the seventh time in the last eight matches, Georgia Tech’s 29th-ranked men’s tennis team takes on No. 48 UNC-Wilmington at 1 p.m. Sunday at the Bill Moore Tennis Center.
The Yellow Jackets, 8-3 in dual matches this spring following their 7-0 win against Georgia State last Saturday, have steadily climbed the ITA rankings this spring, beginning at No. 43. The Seahawks, 7-2 following a 4-3 loss to Boston College Thursday, join a list of ranked foes for Tech that has included South Carolina (36), Penn State (54), Florida (11), Georgia (7), Auburn (27), and Florida State (18).
Guillermo Gomez, an All-American in 2009 and ranked No. 5 in the nation this week, is Tech’s No. 1 player with an 18-4 overall singles record this year. He is 9-3 against players ranked in the nation’s top 100, and is 5-2 in dual matches in the spring. The junior from Alicante, Spain, did not play last week against Georgia State, and will see his first action since Feb. 21, when he defeated Florida State’s Jean Yves-Aubone, ranked 35th, in three sets.
Eliot Potvin, a junior from Hampden, Maine, and Dean O’Brien, a junior from Benmore, South Africa, have played in every dual match this spring, posting singles marks of 8-3 and 6-5, respectively. Kevin King, a sophomore from Peachtree City, Ga., has played in the last three matches after an eight-month layoff recovering from a shoulder injury, and has won all three.
Thorne also has gotten good performances from Miguel Muguruza, a junior from Wesley Chapel, Fla., with a 5-2 dual mark, and Magin Ortiga, a freshman from Cartagina, Colombia, who is 6-3 in dual matches. Ortiga is the only Tech player who faced a UNC-Wilmington player in a fall tournament, defeating the Seahawks’ Ryan Ybarra in straight sets.
Freshman Juan Spir of Medellin, Colombia, who is 3-6 in dual matches, and sophomore Dusan Miljevic of Novi Sad, Serbia, who is 4-4, are also available to play.
Parking for the match is available on Fowler Street, 8th Street and the main lot for Alexander Memorial Coliseum.
