April 14, 2005
ATLANTA – The eighth-ranked Georgia Tech women’s tennis team concludes the regular season this weekend at the Bill Moore Tennis Center with matches against No. 16 Duke (13-8, 4-4 ACC) and 13th-ranked North Carolina (19-6, 7-1 ACC). The Yellow Jackets (15-2, 8-0 ACC) will play the Duke Blue Devils Saturday at 12 noon before hosting the Tar Heels Sunday at 11 a.m.
“It’s going to be a great weekend of tennis,” said Georgia Tech head coach Bryan Shelton. “It would be hard to top last weekend, but we have again prepared well all week and I think the girls are focused and determined to go out there and play hard like they’ve done all season.”
Yellow Jacket rookie Kristi Miller is currently ranked 14th in singles and 15th with partner Alison Silverio in doubles according to the latest polls, while senior Dasha Potapova appears at No. 115 in the singles rankings this week. Georgia Tech is 2-1 on the season against teams ranked in the top-15 and has a stellar 9-2 record against teams in the top-50, with its only losses coming to No. 6 Vanderbilt and No. 18 Harvard.
The Yellow Jackets enter this weekend riding a 10-match win streak, having not lost since Feb. 26th. With a 4-3 win over Miami last Sunday, the Yellow Jackets recorded their eighth conference win of the season after never recording more than five ACC victories in a single season since beginning league play in 1984. Under current head coach Bryan Shelton, the Yellow Jackets are 28-20 in ACC matches after owning a 21-98 mark against their conference opponents prior to his return to the Flats.
“I think the team realizes that, since I’ve been here, we haven’t beaten either one of these teams,” said Shelton, “and we haven’t beaten Duke before in the history of this program. But I think that they are excited about this season and about every opportunity that we have. They see this as a big opportunity for themselves and for this program.”
Duke enters Saturday’s match on a two-match losing skid after facing North Carolina and No. 46 Maryland in the last week. The Blue Devils are led this season by senior Katie Blaszak, ranked 44th in the nation in singles, and No. 111 Jackie Carlton. Tech has yet to record a victory against the Blue Devils in 27 previous meetings.
“We haven’t overlooked anyone this year and obviously we won’t do that this weekend,” said Shelton. “We know that Duke has commanded respected in this league for a long time and we will have a lot of respect for them.”
North Carolina is currently one of the hottest teams in the nation, entering Saturday’s match at Clemson with a seven-match winning streak. The Tar Heels have a pair of the nation’s top singles players on their roster in No. 22 Kendall Cline and No. 31 Aniela Mojzis, while Cline and Mojzis combine to form the sixth-ranked doubles team in the nation. Sara Anundsen and Jenna Long are also ranked in doubles this week, at No. 24 according to the ITA. The Tar Heels enter Sunday’s match with a 22-2 record against the Yellow Jackets.
“North Carolina is having a great season so we know that we are going to have to be at our best again this weekend to get it done,” added Shelton.
“I’m excited about the people that are going to come out and watch the match this weekend and I think that they are going to be pleased to see tennis again and great competitions out there on the court.”
Following this weekend’s matches, the Yellow Jackets will travel to the ACC Tournament, which begins next Thursday in Cary, NC.
