April 7, 2006
ATLANTA – With the signing of Amanda Craddock, Kirsten Flower and Amanda McDowell in the fall, Georgia Tech head coach Bryan Shelton’s recruiting class is ranked third in the nation according to the rankings released Friday by www.tennisrecruiting.com.
“We’re excited about where our program is headed,” said Shelton. “We’ve improved in so many areas in already and for us to bring in three quality players like Amanda, Kirsten and Amanda, we feel that our program is headed nowhere but up.”
Craddock is ranked a five-star blue chip by the website, while both Flower and McDowell earned five stars for their prep and juniors play. Craddock, a Leawood, Kansas native, is ranked fifth in the Tennis RPI with a 54-16 record, while Columbus, Ohio native Flower stands seventh with an 81-26 mark on the season. Atlanta native McDowell, a Marist School standout, has an overall record of 38-22 and ranks 45th in the Tennis RPI.
“I think that we are becoming an elite program, and these guys will help us ensure that we’ll stay that way for some time to come,” added Shelton.
Tennisrecruiting.com had the following to say about Tech’s recruiting class: “The Yellow Jackets are coming off their first-ever ACC Championship. This recruiting class is worthy of an elite team.”
It also added, “Princeton, Notre Dame and Georgia Tech all make a case for the top spot.”
The website ranked the Top 20 recruiting classes in the nation, with Notre Dame leading the way at No. 1, followed closely by Princeton at No. 2. Following Tech in the rankings are Atlantic Coast Conference foes Duke (No. 4), Virginia (No. 5) and Maryland (No. 6). The ACC has the most schools ranked in the top-20, as UNC appears at No. 16 in the rankings.
The Yellow Jackets (16-3, 7-0 ACC) will continue their quest for another ACC Championship this weekend as they travel Tobacco Road to face No. 5 North Carolina and No. 14 Duke. Tech and the Tar Heels will face off Saturday at 11 a.m. before the Jackets continue on to Duke to face the Blue Devils Sunday at 12 noon.
