Tech’s men’s tennis team hosted the annual Georgia Tech Fall Invitational last weekend. 64 players representing 14 different schools played at the Bill Moore Center in a tournament that lasted from Friday to Sunday. Schools that competed on Tech’s courts included Armstrong Atlantic State, Auburn, Clemson, Davidson, Furman, Georgia, Georgia State, Kennesaw State, Middle Tennessee State, UNC-Wilmington, Penn State, Southern Mississippi and Vanderbilt. Five Tech players that entered in this competition included sophomores Ryan Smith, Doug Kenny, and Miguel Muguruza with junior Austin Roebuck and freshman Dusan Milijevic. The other three players, sophomores Guillermo Gomez and Eliot Potvin with freshman Kevin King did not play in the event over the weekend so that they could compete in the D’Novo All-American Championship in Tulsa, Okla.
Muguruza and Smith took their first two doubles matches on Friday, including a quarterfinal win against Georgia. In addition, the Jackets won four of the five singles matches they played on the day with their only loss coming from Roebuck, who came back in his second match and defeated Arie Hefter of Davidson.
On the second day of the competition, Muguruza fared well as he teamed with Smith for a victory in the doubles main draw semifinal. Muguruza also won a pair of singles matches to reach the singles semifinals of the “A” bracket.
On the final day, Mugaruza and Smith were able to capture the doubles title as they beat Auburn’s Lukas Marsoun and Alexander Stamchev 8-4 after a run of four straight wins through the tournament. In singles, Mugaruza fell to Jamie Hunt of Georgia 7-5, 6-3, in the semifinals. Hunt went on to win the singles title after beating Nejc Podrajsck of Georgia State. Mugaruza took third place after taking a walk-over against Marsoun, who retired with an injury.
While the Fall Invitational took place, Potvin won two matches on Saturday in the pre-qualifying draw at the D’Novo All-American Championships. Potvin then advanced to the qualifying draw on Sunday after defeating No. 24 seeded Dan Cash of Florida 6-1, 6-4. Both Potvin and King ended up losing their first-round matches in the third set on Monday in the qualifying draw. Potvin fell 3-6, 6-4, 4-6 to Jason Jung of Michigan, and King droped his match 4-6, 6-2, 0-6 to Nikolas Cromydas of Vanderbilt. Potvin and King were then eliminated Tuesday after losing consolation matches. King later teamed with Gomez in doubles, taking one of two. Gomez is one of 64 players who began singles competition.