March 29, 2007
ATLANTA – Georgia Tech’s seventh-ranked women’s tennis team will host its final Atlantic Coast Conference matches of the season this weekend, facing No. 13 North Carolina Saturday and No. 20 Duke Sunday.
The Jackets and Tar Heels will square off at 12 p.m. Saturday, and Duke and Tech clash Sunday at 1 p.m.
The Yellow Jackets (13-4, 4-1 ACC) have won four-straight ACC matches since falling to Clemson to begin conference play, while Duke (9-3, 4-0 ACC) leads the league with an unblemished conference mark and UNC (16-5, 4-1 ACC) stands in a four-way tie for second with Tech, Clemson and Miami.
“I think that it’s going to be an exciting weekend,” said Georgia Tech head coach Bryan Shelton. “We have always had great matches with North Carolina and Duke, and I feel as though we are really prepared for the weekend. We’ve had great practices all week and are coming off a very solid weekend, playing two of the toughest teams in the nation in Miami and Florida State.”
Georgia Tech is coming off a strong showing this past weekend in which they handed the Hurricanes their first conference loss of the season, a 5-2 defeat in Atlanta, before stopping Florida State, 6-1, Sunday afternoon.
Georgia Tech enters the weekend with a 4-23 record vs. the Tar Heels and will be seeking their first win against the Blue Devils.
“Our girls are excited,” said Shelton. “We recognize that there is a lot riding on this weekend, and we are going to be up for the challenge.”
The Jackets have two players, Tarryn Rudman and Amanda McDowell, who have posted perfect 5-0 records against conference foes, while two others, Kristi Miller and Amanda Craddock have gone 4-1 in singles play against ACC opponents.
All eight players on Georgia Tech’s roster appear in the latest singles rankings, while Miller and Whitney McCray form the nation’s eight-ranked doubles tandem.
“We have had unbelievable support all season, and with everything going on this weekend on campus, we are excited about the atmosphere that’s going to bring,” added Shelton. “We are looking forward to our fans coming out and being very loud.”
