Dec. 19, 2001
ATLANTA — The Georgia Tech men’s tennis team concluded a successful fall season by having one singles player and a pair of doubles teams ranked in the ITA Post-Fall Poll. Included in the group is junior Roger Anderson, who is ranked in the singles poll for the first time in his career, while also being among the top doubles teams with partner David Wright at the conclusion of the fall season.
“We had one of the best fall seasons since I’ve been here at Georgia Tech,” said Yellow Jacket head coach Kenny Thorne. “I think that the team proved to themselves that they can do some things that they may not have thought that they could. Of course it’s just a start and we still have a lot of work to do because the fall doesn’t really count for much since the bulk of our season is in the spring.”
Anderson, a native of Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, was Tech’s top performer in the fall, as he posted a 10-4 record, the best of his career, and recorded his top win as a Yellow Jacket at the ITA Region II Championships. He is ranked 32nd at the end of the fall, after not being ranked in the preseason. At the regional event in Chapel Hill, N.C., he rolled through six matches without dropping a set en route to the individual title, becoming the first player in school history to win the tourney. Anderson downed six Atlantic Coast Conference foes in the tournament, including Wake Forest’s David Loewenthal by a 6-1,7-5 score in the finals.
“I think that Roger is one of the best player in the nation right now and that he can do even better than he did this fall,” said Thorne. “He’s played well enough that he is certainly capable of reaching some of the goals that he set for himself at the beginning of the year.”
In doubles play, Anderson teamed with David Wright and the duo opened the fall ranked eighth in the preseason poll before finishing in the 21st position in the latest rankings. The team finished the fall season with a 3-3 record, advancing to the second round of the ITA All-American Championships and the third round of the ITA Region II Championship. Wright, a native of Guayaquil, Equador, also teamed with Anderson a year ago, and the duo was ranked as high as 24th in the ITA polls.
“David and Roger are also one of the best doubles teams in the country,” said Thorne. “They had a tough fall and didn’t get to play together as often as they would have like with David struggling with some injuries, but with the schedule we have this year, they will get to play a number of the top doubles teams in the country. Those matches will certainly help them improve and move up the rankings even more.”
Perhaps the biggest surprise of the fall season for the Yellow Jackets was the emergence of the doubles tandem of sophomores West Nott (Midland, Mich./Florida) and Scott Schnugg (Medford, Ore./UC-Santa Barbara). Both players transferred to Tech prior to the fall season and made an immediate impact on the program. The duo posted an 8-3 record in the fall and were put together at the start of the ITA All-American Pre-Qualifying tournament, and not only advanced out of that round, but through the Qualifying round as well and into the main draw. In the ITA All-American main draw, Nott and Schnugg reached the second round of the consolation bracket.
“Scott and West had a great fall,” said Thorne. “We really threw them together at the start of the ITA All-American tournament since they had played together some in juniors, and they made it all the way to the main draw. They gelled very well as a team and that was great for us because I was somewhat concerned about our doubles play entering this season. They solidified some things for us in that area.”
Georgia Tech will continue its semester break until January 18-20, when it travels to Winston-Salem, N.C., to compete in the ACC Indoor Championships, hosted by Wake Forest University.
