Feb. 7, 2013
THE FLATS – Looking to get back on the winning track with its first home match in three weeks, Georgia Tech’s men’s tennis team takes on 6th-ranked Georgia in front of an expected packed Ken Byers Tennis Complex at 4 p.m. Friday.
The Yellow Jackets (2-3), ranked 65th in this week’s Intercollegiate Tennis Association rankings, have dropped three straight matches away from home against teams ranked ahead of Tech since sweeping a Jan. 18 double-header at home against Old Dominion and Lipscomb.
The Bulldogs (3-1), who won their ITA Kick-Off Weekend tournament against Vanderbilt and VCU, and have defeated Clemson, lost their most recent match at Ohio State on Feb. 3.
Fans attending the match can park in the lower level of Peters Parking Deck (entrance at Fowler and 4th Streets) or in the Family Housing Lot (ER-66) beginning at 3 p.m. The Family Housing Lot entrance is located across 10th Street from the back of the tennis center complex.
“We have a lot of matches on the road this year so we are excited about getting back home and particularly about playing UGA,” said Tech head coach Kenny Thorne, whose team defeated Georgia two years ago the last time the two teams met in Atlanta. “We will have some of the best college tennis players battling against each other so I encourage all our fans to come out and see the highest level of college tennis. I expect it to be a great experience for our fans.”
Tech has enjoyed an advantage in doubles against most of its opponents this spring, anchored by the nation’s No. 3-ranked duo of Juan Spir and Vikram Hundal, who are 7-0 for the spring and 15-1 for the year. The Yellow Jackets have won the doubles point in three of their five matches, getting a 2-1 mark from the No. 2 pair of Juan Melian and Nathan Rakitt and a 1-2 record from Garrett Gordon and Eduardo Segura at No. 3.
Thorne hopes for better results from the top of his singles lineup, where No. 2 Melian, a senior from Las Palmas, Spain, missed two of Tech’s last three matches with an ankle injury and No. 1 Spir (Medellin, Colombia), ranked 32nd in the nation, has struggled out of the gate, losing all four of his spring dual matches.
Hundal, a sophomore from Alpharetta, Ga., and Rakitt, a freshman from Marietta, Ga., have been Tech’s most solid performers. Hundal is 3-2 in dual matches playing No. 3, while Rakitt is 4-0 playing primarily at No. 4.
Thorne will fill out Tech’s lineup from a group including sophomores Segura (Madrid, Spain) and Colin Edwards (Valrico, Fla.) and freshmen Gordon (Marietta, Ga.) and Anish Sharma (Alpharetta, Ga.).
