Feb. 18, 2012
ATLANTA – Facing its final non-conference match of the spring, Georgia Tech hosts Wisconsin for a 12 noon match Sunday at the Bill Moore Tennis Center. Admission is free and parking is available along Fowler Street.
The Yellow Jackets (4-5) are coming off a 7-0 loss at 4th-ranked Georgia Tuesday, Tech’s fourth loss to a top-20 team this season which had ended a three-match winning streak. Tech also has lost to No. 13 Tennessee, No. 20 Auburn and No. 15 Illinois.
The Badgers are 2-1 following a 7-0 loss to 30th-ranked Notre Dame, and head South no only to play the Yellow Jackets, but also will face Clemson Saturday before coming to Atlanta.
All-American Kevin King, the nation’s 9th-ranked player in singles, has played well this spring at the top singles position in the Tech lineup, building a 7-2 record with his only losses coming to the nation’s 2nd and 10th-ranked players. The senior from Peachtree City, Ga., has victories over the 34th and 125th-ranked players in the nation.
Juan Spir, a junior from Medellin, Colombia, playing No. 2 for Tech, has a 6-3 mark this spring, while junior Juan Melian, the 2011 Southern Conference Player of the Year before transferring from Georgia Southern, has a 5-3 mark this spring at the No. 3 position.
Thorne continues to work to solidify the bottom of the Yellow Jackets’ singles order, and has gotten a boost from freshman Sebastian Lopez of Medellin, Colombia, who enrolled at Tech for spring semester and became eligible last week, winning both of his matches at No. 6 singles against Georgia State and William & Mary. Another freshman, Eduardo Segura from Madrid, Spain, has gone 5-3 shifting between No. 5 and 6.
After splitting up King and Spir in an attempt to strengthen the depth of Tech’s doubles lineup against South Carolina and being swept by the Gamecocks in doubles, Thorne paired them back together last week and the result was a doubles sweep in each of the Yellow Jackets’ three home matches. King and Spir, the nation’s No. 2-ranked team, is 8-0 this spring, including a win over Georgia’s top team Tuesday. The No. 2 pairing of Melian and freshman Vikram Hundal is 4-4, and the No. 3 duo of Segura and senior Dusan Miljevic is 3-3.
