Feb. 3, 2012
ATLANTA – Looking to get back on the winning track after three losses to top-20 teams, 22nd-ranked Georgia Tech hosts No. 69 and undefeated South Carolina at 1 p.m. Saturday at the Bill Moore Tennis Center. It is the first of three home matches for the Yellow Jackets in the next week.
Tech is 1-3, following a season-opening win over Old Dominion with losses to No. 13 Tennessee, No. 20 Auburn and No. 15 Illinois. They have beaten South Carolina each of the past two years. The Gamecocks come to Atlanta having lost only one team point in five contests, that to Georgia State last Sunday.
Admission is free to all Tech home matches. Parking is available along Fowler and 8th Streets, as well as the McCamish Pavilion lot.
“South Carolina has always been a tough team,” said head coach Kenny Thorne. “[Head coach] Josh Goffi is a passionate coach who does a great job. Our team continues to work hard and will improve with each match. We have had some positive individual results and moments this season. It is time to have a solid team performance.”
Thorne’s team boasts the nation’s No. 2-ranked doubles team in senior Kevin King and junior Juan Spir, and King is ranked 9th in the nation in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association singles rankings.
King, a senior from Peachtree City, Ga., has won three of his four singles matches, including a victory over the nation’s 125th-ranked player from Tennessee, Mikelis Libietis, in three sets. The All-American is 17-4 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 Spir, a junior from Medellin, Colombia, also split his matches at No. 3. They have since switched positions in the lineup and are a combined 4-3.
Senior Dusan Miljevic of Novi Sad, Serbia has opened the season by going 1-3 at No. 4, and freshman Vikram Hundal of Alpharetta, Ga., has the same mark at No. 5. Another freshman, Eduardo Segura of Madrid, Spain, has gone 2-1 at No. 6.
King and Spir have won all four of their doubles matches to date at No. 1 doubles. Thorne has paired Hundal with Melian at No. 2 (2-2), and Miljevic and Segura at No. 3 (1-1).
Up Next for Tech
Tech hosts Georgia State Wednesday and William & Mary Thursday at the Bill Moore Tennis Center, both matches begin at 2:30 p.m. The Yellow Jackets also have added a home match against Wisconsin, which will be played Feb. 19 at 12 noon.
