ATLANTA (August 24) — Georgia Tech men’s tennis coach Kenny Thorne hopes the Institute’s change from the quarter to semester system will give the Yellow Jackets a jumpstart to the fall season.
Thorne welcomed six returning letterwinners, one redshirt freshman and a pair of promising newcomers to campus last week to begin prepping for practice which begins Tuesday, Sept. 7.
“This year I think the change to semesters will give the guys an opportunity to get acclimated to school and get in shape before practice starts,” Thorne said. “In the past, we’ve had to push it to get the guys here, get them in shape, start practice and then play our first tournament the first weekend back. This year we have a good month to month and a half before our first tournament which I hope will translate into a much better fall season. As far as the fall goes, results aren’t as important as the development of the players. We’re looking for them to get as many matches in as they can and get a good technical foundation down.”
Among Tech’s returnees from last season are junior Sergio Aguirre (Atlanta, Ga.), the 1999 Atlantic Coast Conference flight champion at No. 3 doubles, and junior Jason Jeong (Woodstock, Ill.), who tied for the team lead in singles wins last year with 25.
The Jackets open their fall season Oct. 1-3 at the Clemson Fall Classic. The fall schedule:
Sept. 18-26 at T. Rowe Price National Clay Court Championships (Baltimore, Md.), All DayOct. 1-3 at Clemson Fall Tennis Classic, All DayOct. 16-18 Georgia Tech Fall Invitational, All DayOct. 22-24 South Carolina Invitational, All DayNov. 3-8 ITA South Atlantic Region Championships (Chapel Hill, N.C.), All Day
