Jan. 4, 2017
THE FLATS – The Georgia Tech women’s tennis team enters the 2017 season ranked No. 11 as announced by Oracle and the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Wednesday afternoon. The Yellow Jackets capped last season ranked No. 16 after reaching the Sweet 16 in the NCAA Tournament.
Tech is one of five ACC teams to enter the season nationally-ranked as UNC comes in at No. 2, Duke is No. 10, Miami sits at No. 12 and Virginia falls in at No. 23. Florida, which concluded the 2016 season ranked No. 3, begins 2017 as the top team in the country. Completing the top five behind Florida and North Carolina are Pepperdine (No. 3), Stanford (No. 4) and Oklahoma State (No. 5).
In addition to team rankings, the ITA released individual rankings and Tech is represented by two individuals among the top-85 singles players in the country. Rasheeda McAdoo, who completed the fall season with a 6-5 singles record and 5-2 mark in doubles, is ranked No. 42. The Boca Raton, Fla., native earned a preseason ranking of No. 77 in the fall. Freshman Nami Otsuka joins McAdoo in the national rankings, sitting at No. 82. Otsuka, who hails from Norcross, Ga., posted a 5-6 singles mark in the fall campaign and a 6-3 doubles mark.
The ITA also released the first regional rankings of 2017 with McAdoo coming in at No. 10, Otsuka sitting at No. 16 and Kenya Jones joining the Jackets at No. 17 in the top-20 singles rankings in the Southeast region. The doubles tandem of Johnnise Renaud and Rasheeda McAdoo rank No. 6 among the top-10 in the region.
Tech opens the 2017 season in Oregon, facing Portland Jan. 13 and Oregon Jan. 14.
