Feb. 27, 2014
Florida State Livestats | Miami Livestats
The #19 Georgia Tech women’s tennis team (4-2, 1-0 ACC) hits the road for two ACC matches, traveling to #34 Florida State (7-3, 2-0 ACC) on Friday at 3 p.m. and to #20 Miami (6-2, 2-0 ACC) on Sunday at noon.
Live stats against Florida State will be available here while live stats for the Miami match can be found here.
Looking at Florida State
The Seminoles check in at #34 after opening up ACC play with two wins against #50 Wake Forest, 4-3, and Maryland, 7-0. At the number one singles spot for Florida State is Daneika Borthwick, who is 5-3 this season. Borthwick joins Kerrie Cartwright at the No. 1 doubles spot where the duo has gone 3-1 so far. Cartwright’s singles win against Wake Forest’s Kimmy Guerin on court two clinched the win for the Seminoles in their first ACC match of the season.
Florida State holds the overall series record against Georgia Tech, 18-11, but the Jackets have won the last nine of 12 matchups against the Seminoles.
Scouting Miami
#20-ranked Miami kicked off the ACC season by winning two straight matches against Maryland, 7-0, and #22 Notre Dame, 6-1. The Hurricanes’ Kelsey Laurente checks in at #40 while Stephanie Wagner is ranked #71 in the ITA singles rankings. Wagner was recently named the ACC Player of the Week after going a combined 4-0 in singles and doubles against Maryland and No. 22 Notre Dame. Tied for 24th in the doubles rankings is Miam’s Monique Albuquerque and Clementina Riobueno while Laurente and Melissa Bolivar check in at #48.
Georgia Tech leads the series against Miami, 11-8. The Jackets are looking for their first win against the Hurricanes since a 4-3 victory on April 20, 2012.
Dynamic Doubles Duo
The sophomore doubles duo of Megan Kurey and Kendal Woodard are ranked #3 in the nation in the doubles rankings after debuting this season at the #4 spot. In the Feb. 11th poll, the pair was ranked as the #1 doubles team. The tandem is 3-0 together this spring and had won 14-straight doubles matches together, before a loss to Georgia snapped their winning streak. Kurey and Woodard won the 2013 USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships doubles title in November. Kurey and Woodard are 18-5 together this season and 9-4 against ranked opponents.
Player of the Week
Sophomore Natasha Prokhnevska was named the ACC Player of the Week for the week of Feb. 18 for the first time in her career after helping Tech defeat #27 Tennessee, 5-2. Prokhnevska’s win at the #2 singles position clinched the victory for the Yellow Jackets, who are 3-1 this season. Prokhnevska defeated Joanna Henderson, 6-4, in the first set. In set two, she battled it out against Henderson to win the set, 7-6 (7-5) and to stay undefeated in singles play at 3-0 this season.
In doubles play against the Lady Vols, Prokhnevska paired up with Muriel Wacker to defeat Victoria Olivarez and Eve Repic, 8-3, helping the Jackets win the doubles point. The Jackets are 3-0 this season when winning the doubles point.
Facing Ranked Opponents
The #34 Seminoles and the #20 Hurricanes will be the sixth and seventh top-35 opponents the Jackets will face in eight dual matches. Tech is 3-2 against ranked opponents after blanking #25 Nebraska, 4-0, at the ITA Kickoff Weekend in its first dual match of the season. Against #16 Vanderbilt, the Jackets suffered their first loss of the season, 4-3. Tech defeated #27 Tennessee, 5-2, and #22 Notre Dame, 4-3 before falling to #7 Georgia, 7-0.
Jackets in the Rankings
The Georgia Tech women’s tennis team checks in at #19 in the most 2014 ITA women’s rankings which was released on February 25. Their #19 ranking is the highest this season after the Jackets were tied for 19th in the polls released on January 21. The doubles tandem of Megan Kurey and Kendal Woodard are ranked at #3 in the doubles rankings and Muriel Wacker and Natasha Prokhnevska check in at #49. Woodard is 124th in the singles poll.
Georgia Tech is one of seven ACC schools that are ranked in the top-25 in the rankings, joining Duke (1), Virginia (3), North Carolina (11), Clemson (15), Georgia Tech (19), Miami (20) and Notre Dame (25).
National Champions
The #1-ranked sophomore doubles duo of Megan Kurey and Kendal Woodard capped off an impressive fall season by winning the 2013 USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships doubles title. Kurey and Woodard captured the national indoor doubles title on Nov. 10, 2013 after defeating Louisville’s Julia Fellerhoff and Rebecca Shine in the championship match.
The tandem went 14-4 this fall and owned an impressive 7-3 record against nationally ranked opponents. The duo finished off the season on a nine-match winning streak, including three straight victories during national indoors on their way to the national doubles title. Kurey and Woodard also won the USTA/ITA Southeast Regional Doubles Title in the fall.
Follow the Jackets
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.
Next Up
The Yellow Jackets return to the Flats to host Wake Forest on Friday, March 7 at 3 p.m.
–RamblinWreck.com–
