April 5, 2012
ATLANTA – The 25th-ranked Georgia Tech women’s tennis team (9-9, 3-4 ACC)) will head to the Commonwealth of Virginia for its final regular-season road trip of the year. The Yellow Jackets will take on the No. 13 Virginia Cavaliers (14-4, 5-2 ACC) at 2 p.m. Friday at the Snyder Tennis Center and the No. 66 Virginia Tech Hokies (12-8, 3-4 ACC) at noon Saturday at the Burrows-Burleson Tennis Center.
With only two weekends remaining in the regular-season, the Yellow Jackets are looking to build some momentum before the ACC Championships April 19-22 in Cary, N.C. Tech will also be trying to bounce back after two tough losses to No. 8 North Carolina and No. 3 Duke last weekend.
“We really focusing hard on our serve and return of serve in practice this week,” head coach Bryan Shelton said. “We know if we execute those two areas, it certainly helps our chance of being successful. We’ve also been focusing on what we need to do to compete at the level we need to be at. Our goal is still intact and we want to gain some momentum before the ACC Championships. We have an opportunity ahead of us and the team feels the same way.”
Senior Jillian O’Neill leads three ranked Jackets into this weekend’s matches. O’Neill is currently No. 17, while Caroline Lilley is No. 85 and Elizabeth Kilborn is No. 108. Tech’s only ranked doubles team of O’Neill and Alex Anghelescu is 10th in the latest poll.
The Cavaliers boast five singles players ranked, led by Emily Fraser at No. 16. Fraser and Li Xi are UVa’s highest ranked doubles pair at No. 14.
Georgia Tech and Virginia met earlier this season in the ITA National Team Indoor Championships, which the Cavaliers hosted at the Boar’s Head Club in Charlottesville, a match which UVa won 4-1.
“We played a really tight match at their place, on their home courts,” Shelton said. “They’ve beat us not only this year, but the past few times out so we’re really focused on getting back on the winning side of the equation. Virginia is a really good team and program, we have to come out ready to compete.”
Fans are encouraged to follow Georgia Tech women’s tennis on Twitter, @GT_WTEN, and like the Yellow Jackets on Facebook, GTWomensTennis, for an inside look at the program.
— RamblinWreck.com —
