THE FLATS – Georgia Tech men’s tennis defeated No. 21 NC State 6-1 on Friday evening at the Ken Byers Tennis Complex, capturing the Jackets fourth win in the last five matches.
“Really proud of the fight in all our guys,” said Ken Byers Men’s Tennis Head Coach Kenny Thorne. “We have worked very hard and are starting to see some results. Every one of them dug in today. I want to give credit to all the Tech students who came today and cheered the whole match. If you showed up today and you were a student then let me know, I owe you some pizza, or something. What a fun environment it was to play in. Good time!”
The No. 35 Yellow Jackets (10-6, 4-4 ACC) clinched the doubles point after taking courts two and three. Midway through doubles all three courts were tied at 4-4 (court one), 5-5 (court two) and 4-4 (court three) before redshirt sophomore Pablo Schelcher/redshirt junior Brandon Freestone beat No. 30 Alexis Galarneau/Robert Turzak 7-6 (4) on court two. Schelcher/Freestone improved to 4-1 on the season when paired together. Redshirt sophomore Zummy Bauer/redshirt freshman Brandon McKinney collected the doubles point for Tech after they topped Robin Catry/Collin Shick 7-5 on court three, giving the duo their fifth win together this year. Redshirt freshmen No. 43 Andres Martin/Marcus McDaniel went unfinished at 6-6 on court one against No. 17 Yannai Barkai/Tadas Babelis.
In singles the Jackets took courts one thru five. No. 25 Martin picked up the first singles win on the day versus No. 97 Rafa Izquierfo Luque in a 6-2, 6-4 outing. Martin is now 11-4 in dual match singles, snagging his second consecutive victory. Schelcher won a 7-6 (5), 6-2, showing against Babelis to put the Jackets up 3-0, giving him a 10-3 dual match singles record this year and his fifth straight win.
In the biggest individual upset of the evening No. 52 McDaniel defeated No. 13 Alexis Galarneau after a tight first set of 7-6 (4), following that up with a 6-2 performance in the second set to give the Jackets the team win. McDaniel sports a team-best dual match singles record at 13-2, is 5-2 against ACC opponents and has also won five consecutive matches.
Up 4-0 with the win tallied in Techs’ favor courts four and five were retired by NC State giving redshirt freshman Keshav Chopra and McKinney a pair of wins, respectively. Both Chopra & McKinney are right at a .500-win percentage, each owning 7-7 records in dual match singles. The only court the Wolfpack outplayed the Jackets on was court six where true freshman Chen Dong suffered a 6-4, 2-6, 4-6 loss.
Overall Tech is 59-28 (.678) in dual match singles play, with a 22-16 record in ACC match-ups.
The Jackets will be back at home on The Flats this Sunday when Tech plays host to No. 12 Wake Forest. First serve is slotted for 1 p.m. (EST).
35 Georgia Tech 6, #21 NC State 1
Mar 26, 2021 at Atlanta, Ga. (Ken Byers Tennis Complex)
| Singles competition |
| 1. #52 Marcus McDaniel (M-GT) def. #13 Alexis Galarneau (ST) 7-6 (7-4), 6-2 |
| 2. #25 Andres Martin (M-GT) def. #97 Rafa Izquierdo Luque (ST) 6-2, 6-4 |
| 3. Pablo Schelcher (M-GT) def. Tadas Babelis (ST) 7-6 (7-5), 6-2 |
| 4. Keshav Chopra (M-GT) def. Robin Catry (ST) 3-6, 6-3, 1-0 |
| 5. Brandon McKinney (M-GT) def. Robert Turzak (ST) 2-6, 7-6 (7-5), 1-0 |
| 6. Martins Rocens (ST) def. Chen Dong (M-GT) 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 |
| Doubles competition |
| 1. #17 Yannai Barkai/Tadas Babelis (ST) vs. #43 Marcus McDaniel/Andres Martin (M-GT) no result |
| 2. Brandon Freestone/Pablo Schelcher (M-GT) def. #30 Alexis Galarneau/Robert Turzak (ST) 7-6 (7-4) |
| 3. Zummy Bauer/Brandon McKinney (M-GT) def. Robin Catry/Collin Shick (ST) 7-5 |
| Match Notes |
| NC State 9-6 (6-2 ACC); National ranking #21 |
| Georgia Tech 10-6 (4-4 ACC); National ranking #35 |
| Order of finish: Doubles (3,2); Singles (2,3,1,5,4,6) |
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