Jan. 18, 2018
THE FLATS — Georgia Tech men’s tennis heads on the road for its first duals match away from The Flats when it takes on Tennessee on Friday, Jan. 19 at the Goodfriend Tennis Center. First serve is scheduled for 6 p.m.
The Yellow Jackets (2-0) recently welcomed three nationally ranked teams in Illinois, Columbia and Georgia for the MLK Invitational, garnering six wins overall on the weekend in singles. The Friday matchup will be the first of two against SEC teams in three days as the Jackets also host Auburn on Sunday, Jan. 21 at noon.
The Volunteers enter the weekend undefeated in duals play this season, having already played four matches. Tennessee opened the season in a doubleheader against UNC Charlotte where they only dropped one point to the 49ers all day, winning 6-1 and 7-0. The Vols then defeated Tennessee Tech and Belmont in another doubleheader, 6-1 apiece.
UT currently has three players at 4-0 in singles: the No. 1 (36th-ranked Timo Stodder), the No. 2 (Preston Touliatos) and the No. 4 (Adam Walton). Touliatos and Walton have been the No. 1 doubles tandem thus far and have also garnered a 4-0 record.
Auburn is 3-0 to start the duals season with three victories over Jackson State played out in a tripleheader.
Leading thus far in singles is Edward Nguyen (1-0) at the No. 1 and Lorenzo Rodriguez (1-0) and Carles Sarrio (1-0) who’ve split time at the No. 2. Tad Maclean (3-0) and Michael Durham (2-0) have also found success early.
In doubles, the Tigers have only played three teams: the tandems of Nguyen and Rodriguez, Diego Chavarria and Sarrio, and Maclean and Sarrio.
Georgia Tech continues to show spurts of its old self in the singles matches as Carlos Divar, Andrew Li and Elijah Melendez pile up the wins. After Divar and Li finished their weekend, Melendez worked himself quietly to a 2-1 outing, downing Vuk Budic of Illinois and Alex Keyser of Columbia — a come-from-behind thriller that was taking handily in the third set.
Melendez’ lone loss on the weekend came in another three-setter against No. 33 Emil Reinberg of No. 4 UGA. After falling behind a set, 6-4, the senior fought back with a 6-1 second to even the score. The third set came down to the wire but Melendez would unfortunately drop a 7-5 decision to Reinberg.
In doubles so far, the most successful pairing has been that of Carlos Divar and Michael Kay, currently at a 6-2 record. Senior Elijah Melendez has also found early success with freshman Brandon Freestone, holding a 3-1 record and on a two-match winning streak.
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