THE FLATS – Georgia Tech men’s tennis hosts its final two home matches of the 2021 season this weekend as the No. 32 Yellow Jackets are set to host No. 42 Notre Dame on Friday, April 9 at 5 p.m. (EST) and Louisville on Sunday, April 11 at noon (EST) at the Ken Byers Tennis Complex. Sunday’s match will feature Senior Day honors and festivities for academic seniors Zummy Bauer and Brandon Freestone.
Tech heads in to the weekend at 10-7 (4-5 ACC) and is 4-2 over the last six matches. Notre Dame leads the all-time series versus the Jackets at 5-3. Tech holds a 5-4 all-time lead against Louisville.
Last time out the Jackets lost a heartbreaking conference match up to No. 12 Wake Forest in a 4-3 defeat that saw redshirt freshman Marcus McDaniel beat No. 8 Henri Squire. McDaniel claimed ACC Player of the Week honors following that victory, and is slotted as the No. 20 singles player in the country, according to the latest Oracle ITA Rankings. McDaniel is 14-2 in dual match singles this year, while also sporting a 6-2 singles record against ACC opponents. He has won six consecutive singles matches.
Classmate Andres Martin was placed in the No. 24 spot, owning a 12-4 dual match singles record and a 7-3 record over the last ten matchups. Martin is also 6-2 in ACC singles play.
Four pairs of Jackets were ranked in the last ITA Doubles rankings, with No. 41 McDaniel/Pablo Schelcher leading the way for Tech. McDaniel is also rated as the No. 50 pairing when playing with Martin. No. 64 Freestone/Schelcher and No. 66 Martin/Keshav Chopra round out the ranked Yellow Jacket doubles pairings. Martin is 13-3 overall in doubles play, with a team high 10-3 dual match doubles record.
No. 69 Axel Nefve is the Fighting Irish’s lone ranked singles player. No. 56 Sergio Hernandez Ramirez is Louisville’s only ranked singles player. Both the Irish (No. 40 Richard/Clamarra) and Cardinals (No. 60 Fabien Salle/Matthew Fung) each have one ranked doubles pairing apiece.
The Yellow Jackets are currently in seventh-place in the most recent ACC Men’s Tennis Standings. Notre Dame sits in the number eight spot, while Louisville is in 10th-place. A pair of wins could launch the Jackets to an over .500 record heading into the final week of the season.
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