Feb. 23, 2013
THE FLATS – Having gotten back on the winning track last weekend with a pair of wins at home, Georgia Tech’s men’s tennis team hits the road again this weekend to face 21st-ranked Auburn in a dual match that begins at 2 p.m. Eastern time Sunday at the Yarbrough Tennis Center.
The Yellow Jackets, 4-4 and ranked No. 66 in the latest ITA rankings, easily defeated a pair of Atlantic Sun Conference foes last Saturday, taking down No. 62 North Florida, 6-1, and Mercer, 7-0. Tech holds a 27-14 lead in its all-time series and won, 4-3, the last time the teams met on the Plains. The Tigers took a 4-1 decision last spring in Atlanta.
Auburn is 7-2 following a 5-2 home loss to Clemson on Friday. The Tigers are the third of four Southeastern Conference foes the Yellow Jackets will play before they begin Atlantic Coast Conference play March 15 against Florida State.
Sunday’s match will begin with a battle between two of the nation’s top doubles teams. Tech’s duo of Juan Spir and Vikram Hundal have been ranked No. 3 all spring, compiling a 9-1 mark, and are 17-2 overall this year. The Auburn team of Daniel Cochrane and Andreas Mies is ranked No. 1, posting an overall record of 15-1 and 8-0 in the spring.
Tech has won the doubles point in six of its eight matches this spring, with one no decision. Juan Melian and Nathan Rakitt (5-1) have been Tech’s primary No. 2 team, while Colin Edwards and Eduardo Segura teamed up to win twice last weekend at No. 3.
Spir, a senior from Medellin, Colombia, returned to the No. 1 singles position and won twice last weekend after beginning the dual season with four losses. Melian, a senior from Las Palmas, Spain, won twice at no. 2 to even his record at 3-3.
Hundal, a sophomore from Alpharetta, Ga., is 5-3 this spring playing primarily at No. 3, while Rakitt, a freshman from Marietta, Ga., is 5-2 manning the No. 4 position. Segura, a sophomore from Madrid, Spain, is 4-4 playing the fifth spot, and freshman Anish Sharma of Alpharetta won a pair of matches at No. 6 last weekend.
