Sept. 14, 2011
ATLANTA – The Georgia Tech women’s tennis team will take to the courts for the first time in 2011-12 when it hosts the Georgia Bulldogs, Oklahoma State Cowgirls and the Yale Bulldogs in the Georgia Tech Invitational at the Windward Club in Alpharetta, Ga.
The three-day flighted tournament will begin with singles matches at noon on Friday with doubles to follow at approximately 2:30. On Saturday, doubles matches will take place first, beginning at 2 p.m., followed by singles at approximately 3:30. The weekend will wrap up on Sunday with singles matches at 9 a.m. and doubles at 11:30.
“Leading into this first tournament, we’re looking at this as a great opportunity, an opportunity to test ourselves and see where we’re at early in the season,” head coach Bryan Shelton said. “We’ve been playing some intrasquad matches as well to get an early look and help us prepare us for this weekend so it’s not the first time we’ve felt match play.
“We’re going to be tested,” Shelton continued. “We had the same teams in our tournament last year and we invited them back because they competed hard, they did things the right way with the right attitude and we got some quality, quality matches in. That’s what we expect to find again this year.”
The Yellow Jackets return six players from last year, including five who were ranked in the Campbell/ITA Tennis Division I rankings. The Jackets top doubles team of Jillian O’Neill and Caroline Lilley were ranked sixth in the initial poll of 2011-12.
Shelton also welcomes in a talented duo in sophomore Alex Anghelescu and freshman Jasmine Minor.
“This weekend we’ll look to see what we’re doing well out there on the court and what areas we need to improve upon,” Shelton said. “That’s the main focus, always getting better. If we take every opportunity to get better and grow, then we’ll get all the things we want out of the weekend. We want to make sure our attitudes are in check, we’re controlling the things we can control, and that we take care of the preparation really well. We’ll evaluate the matches afterward and put the knowledge we gain from this coming weekend to work in practice every single day before we go on to our next event.”
Fans are encouraged to follow Georgia Tech women’s tennis on Twitter, @GT_WTEN, and like the Yellow Jackets on Facebook, GTWomensTennis, for an inside look at the program.
— RamblinWreck.com —
