Feb. 13, 2004
ATLANTA – The Georgia Tech women’s tennis team will take its two-match win streak to Iowa to face the 68th-ranked Hawkeyes Saturday morning at 10 a.m. Iowa has opened dual match play with three consecutive victories, dropping just two of 21 matches in the process, while the Yellow Jackets dropped the season-opener, 4-3, to 14th-ranked William and Mary before posting back-to-back 6-1 wins over No. 40 Minnesota and unranked Middle Tennessee State.
“We are looking forward to going and playing and I feel like we’re in the right frame of mind to really go out there and compete and battle,” said Tech head coach Bryan Shelton. “It’ll be important to get the first point, the doubles point, again, and then after that, work hard in singles play.”
The Jackets boast two undefeated players in singles dual-match play in freshman Lindsey Stauss and senior Maria Nieto. Stauss has also teamed with freshman Alison Silverio during the first three matches of the season in doubles, and together, they have posted a perfect 3-0 record.
“We’re still young and with that comes some mistakes but also a lot of energy, excitement, and enthusiasm and so it’s kind of nice to be working with players like that,” said Shelton.
Also winning singles matches for the Jackets this dual-match season are sophomores Lyndsay Shosho and Kelly Anderson, senior Sekita Grant, and Silverio. Anderson, Grant, and Silverio have all posted 2-1 records in singles play this spring, while Shosho stands at 1-2 at the top of the singles lineup.
Shosho and Nieto have teamed together this spring to post a 2-1 record in doubles play and have won eight matches overall this year, while Grant and Anderson stand at 1-2 in 2004 atop the doubles lineup.
Iowa has played Northern Illinois, Drake, and Marquette to open dual-match play, and has dropped just one game apiece to Northern Illinois and Marquette while downing Drake, 7-0. The Hawkeyes are led this season by a pair of freshmen, Meg Racette and Hillary Mintz. Racette has posted a 9-1 overall record this season and has played in the No. 1 singles position all year while Mintz stands at 12-3 and plays No. 2 singles. The two also compete together atop the doubles lineup and have dropped just three games in their three matches this season.
“They’ve got some players that we haven’t seen before, so again, like MTSU, this is a team that we cannot take lightly,” said Shelton. “We felt really good after the win this week, so we hope that we can follow up that victory on the road this time.”
Following the match at Iowa the Yellow Jackets will return home to face Auburn Thursday, February 19 at 2 p.m.
