Feb. 7, 2012
ATLANTA – Georgia Tech hosts a pair of midweek non-conference matches at the Bill Moore Tennis Center, meeting Georgia State Wednesday (2:30 p.m.) and William & Mary Thursday (2 p.m.). Admission is free to both matches.
The Yellow Jackets (2-4) pulled out of a four-match skid Monday with a 7-0 win over Oglethorpe, a match head coach Kenny Thorne added after Tech failed to advance out to the ITA National Indoor Team Championship, which takes place next weekend. Three of Tech’s four losses have come to top-20 teams, and the Jackets dropped a 5-2 loss Saturday to No. 69 South Carolina.
Georgia State is 4-1, with the Panthers’ only loss coming to South Carolina, while William & Mary comes to Atlanta with a 6-4 mark, including a doubleheader sweep over Longwood and Morgan State Sunday.
“The goal of adding the Oglethorpe match was to give our younger guys an opportunity to get some good competition,” Thorne quote. “Since we did not send a group to California as scheduled in mid-January and didn’t advance in the ITA’s, we needed some extra work and had dates available.”
All-American Kevin King, the nation’s 9th-ranked player in singles, continues to play well, winning four of five matches this spring at No. 1 singles. His only loss occurred to the nation’s No.2 player, Dennis Nevolo of Illinois. The senior from Peachtree City, Ga., has a victory over the nation’s 125th-ranked player from Tennessee, Mikelis Libietis, the year, and is 18-4 this year in singles.
Junior Juan Melian, the 2011 Southern Conference Player of the Year before transferring from Georgia Southern, began his dual season by splitting two matches at No. 2, while Juan Spir, an All-American junior from Medellin, Colombia, also split his matches at No. 3. They have since switched positions in the lineup and are a combined 5-4.
Thorne shuffled the bottom of the Tech lineup for the South Carolina match, dropping senior Dusan Miljevic, who had gone 1-3 at No. 4. He moved up freshmen Vikram Hundal and Eduardo Segura to the 4th and 5th spots, and inserted freshman Colin Edwards at No. 6. Tech was able to win only one set in those three matches.
Thorne shifted the doubles lineup as well, splitting up his All-American duo of King and Spir, who had been undefeated together this spring, in hopes of strengthening the other pairings and capture the doubles point, but the Jackets were swept by the Gamecocks.
Admission is free to all Tech home matches. Parking is available along Fowler and 8th Streets, as well as the McCamish Pavilion lot.
