Feb. 4, 2011
ATLANTA – Playing at home for the first time since it opened the spring season on Jan. 16, the 22nd-ranked Georgia Tech men’s tennis team hosts 34th-ranked Mississippi State at 1 p.m. Saturday at the Bill Moore Tennis Center.
The Yellow Jackets are 3-1 and have moved up one spot in the ITA national rankings since the spring dual season began. Since shutting out No. 60 USC-Upstate at home on Jan. 16, Tech has scored wins over No. 56 South Carolina and No. 55 Oklahoma State away from home, while dropping a 4-3 match to No. 20 North Carolina.
The Bulldogs (1-1) are playing only their third match of the spring, having lost to Texas A&M and beating Arizona by default in Tucson on ITA Kick-Off Weekend.
“Mississippi State will be in the top part of the SEC this year,” said head coach Kenny Thorne. “We will be in the top part of the ACC this year. It should be a good SEC vs. ACC battle that we are going to embrace. If you want to see tennis at the highest level in college then come on out at 1pm tomorrow.”
Due to the Tech-Clemson men’s basketball game taking place at the same time, fans wishing to attend Saturday’s match must park in Peters Parking Deck (4th and Fowler Sts.) or the North Deck at Atlantic and 10th Sts.
Tech is led by its All-American, 12th-ranked Guillermo Gomez, who will be looking for his 100th career singles victory Saturday. The senior from Alicante, Spain is 3-1 at No. 1 singles this spring, 14-5 overall this year.
Thorne has played sophomore Juan Spir of Medellin, Colombia, the 48th-ranked player in the country, at No. 2 this spring, where he has gone 3-1 and is 14-5 overall in singles. Senior Eliot Potvin of Hampden, Maine, has forged a 2-2 mark at No. 3, while junior Kevin King (Peachtree City, Ga.), 4-0 this spring, 8-4 for the year, and sophomore Magin Ortiga (Cartagina, Colombia), 3-1 for the spring, 10-6 overall, have shared the fourth and fifth spots in the lineup. Junior Dusan Miljevic (Novi Sad, Serbia), ranked No. 93 nationally, is 2-1 at No. 6 singles and 15-6 overall.
Tech still boasts the No. 8 doubles team in America, with King and Spir combining to build a 17-5 record, 2-1 in the spring at the No. 1 position. Potvin and senior Ryan Smith (Marietta, Ga.) have a 3-1 record at No. 2, 10-4 overall. Gomez and senior Dean O’Brien (Benmore, South Africa), are undefeated at No. 3 in the spring (4-0).
