April 7, 2004
After finishing out their conference schedule with a 5-3 record, the No. 34 Georgia Tech (13-6) men’s tennis team travels to South Carolina this week for a matchup with the No. 36 Gamecocks (14-8) on Thursday at 1 p.m.
“South Carolina is a team that had a tough start to the season and at one point fell out of the national rankings,” said head coach Kenny Thorne. “But, a lot of the matches were very close, and in the last couple of weeks they’ve had two great wins and have really started playing well. They beat us pretty soundly last year and I know our guys are excited to have another chance to face them this year.”
This marks the 30th time the two teams have met with South Carolina leading the all-time series, 25-4. The last time the Yellow Jackets defeated Carolina was a 4-3 win in 2001. Last season, the Gamecocks beat the Jackets 5-2 in Atlanta.
To date, the Jackets have been led by Scottt Schnugg and West Nott, who have a team-best 13 wins on the season in dual match play. Schnugg, who upset North Carolina’s Nicholas Monroe recently, moved up in the latest ITA singles rankings to No. 46 while freshman Jose Luis Muguruza is now ranked No. 68. On the doubles side, the tandem of Schnugg and Marko Rajevac own a 11-7 record at No. 1 doubles and are currently ranked No. 15 in the ITA rankings.
Following the match in Columbia, SC., the Jackets will return home to play their final regular season match of the season against Miami Sunday at 12 p.m.
