Sept. 22, 2013
Charlottesville, Va. – Georgia Tech’s Nathan Rakitt fell in three sets Sunday in the top singles flight at the UVA Ranked+1 Invitational in Charlottesville, but he and teammate Carlos Benito captured the third-place match in their doubles flight.
The Tech sophomore from Marietta, Ga., seeded seventh in the Orange singles draw, lost to Virginia Tech’s Joao Monteiro, 3-6, 7-6 (4), 6-4, to conclude his weekend with a 2-2 record. In the unranked consolation draw, Benito dropped a three-set match to NC State’s Sean Weber, 6-3, 2-6, 6-1, also finishing the weekend with a 2-2 mark.
In the silver doubles bracket, Rakitt and Benito were seeded second, won the third-place match by default over VCU’s Alexis Heugas and Nick Jones.
“Our guys got several tough matches in this weekend, which is exactly what we came for,” said Tech assistant coach Derek Schwandt, who accompanied the two players to Charlottesville. “Nathan and Carlos both had some great moments, and showed their competitive fire. Nathan has a huge heart and did a great job of competing every point. Carlos showed some serious firepower in his game, and will be improving a ton this year with the more matches he plays. I’m looking forward to working hard with both of these guys this season.”
The tournament, which has become one of the top tournaments in the nation each fall, features four singles draws and four doubles draws. Georgia Tech is one of 15 schools to have players competing at this year’s tournament. Binghamton, Elon, George Washington, Georgia Tech, Kentucky, Louisville, Memphis, Michigan, NC State, North Carolina, UNC Wilmington, Virginia, VCU, Virginia Tech and Wake Forest all have competitors to the event.
