June 4, 2013
THE FLATS – Georgia Tech’s men’s tennis recruiting class for 2013, which includes blue-chip prospect Will Showers from Atlanta, has been ranked the 11th-best in the nation according to a group of experts impaneled by the Tennis Recruiting Network.
Complete National Tennis Recruiting Rankings
Showers, who plays out of the Tennis Academy of the South and is rated the No. 19 prospect nationally, highlights the Yellow Jackets’ incoming group that also includes Cole Fiegel of Alachua, Fla., ranked 138th nationally, and Carlos Benito of Madrid, Spain, ranked 85th in Spain by the International Tennis Federation.
The freshman trio beefs up a Tech roster that returns three juniors and two sophomores from last year’s team, which began competing in January in the brand-new, state-of-the-art Ken Byers Tennis Complex, which includes six indoor and six outdoor competition courts, as well as four outdoor practice courts.
“I want to thank Ken Byers and all our contributors for helping us move up in the recruiting ranks,” said head coach Kenny Thorne, who has guided the Tech program for 15 years. “We were No. 22 before the Ken Byers Tennis Complex was finished and since its completion, we were able to secure three additional recruits which pushed us to the No. 11 ranking on recruiting classes.
“The numbers at the beginning don’t matter as much as the numbers at the end of the season, but they definitely show that we are headed in a great direction. We are committed to getting this program consistently to the top in the nation. It has taken a while to get some things accomplished but we are always working to get better. These recruiting classes will pay off in time so I am very excited about the future of our program.”
The Atlantic Coast Conference and the Ivy League each have five representatives in the rankings. The ACC has three teams in the Top 10: top-ranked Virginia, the No. 3 North Carolina Tar Heels, and the No. 6 Florida State Seminoles. Other ACC programs in rankings are Georgia Tech (No. 11) and Wake Forest (21).
The Tennis Recruiting Network’s panel of 20 experts compiled the rankings using data from more than 1,700 committed seniors. Reporters, national and international tournament directors, referees and ranking chairmen from across the country have donated their time and talents to vote on these top classes.
Each panelist submitted his/her take on the Top 25 recruiting classes. Schools received 25 points for each first-place vote, 24 points for each second-place vote, on down to 1 point for each 25th-place vote. The panelists were told not to consider incoming transfer students in their voting – and also did not consider players that started college in January.
