The men’s and women’s tennis teams opened their spring seasons over the past week, and both teams remain undefeated overall.
The men’s squad began play against the University of Alabama-Birmingham. Tech earned a tough 5-2 victory over a solid UAB team.
The doubles pairs started the season off well by winning all three matches to give the Jackets an early 1-0 lead. Juniors Eliot Potvin and Dean O’Brien highlighted the doubles matches with a 8-1 victory.
In singles, junior Guillermo Gomez showcased the skills that earned him a No. 4 ITA national ranking by downing UAB’s Dan Cornei 6-1, 6-1. Gomez’s victory gave Tech a 2-0 lead. However, Gomez suffered a sprained ankle in the match, and he has not taken the court for the Jackets since.
Freshman Juan Spir and sophomore Dusan Miljevic lost closely contested matches to tie the score at 2-2. Tech went on to win the meet’s three last matches, though, including a strong 6-3, 6-2 victory from O’Brien over Tyrone Ewels.
After earning a victory in their season opener, the No. 43 Jackets took on South Carolina Upstate at home on Sunday.
The visiting Spartans edged the Jackets in two of the three double matches to earn them one point, but Tech swept all six singles matches to earn a 6-1 victory.
Spir took over for Gomez in the team’s top slot and defeated Renzo Airaldi 6-3, 7-5. O’Brein added another win to his resume by defeating Javier Tori 6-3, 6-4.
Later on Sunday, the Jackets next took the court against in-state rival Georgia Southern, finishing with a total of eleven hours of tennis played on Sunday.
Spir and junior Miguel Muguruza defeated Gregory Bekkers and Matthjis Verdam 8-1 in doubles, helping Tech sweep all three doubles matches to earn the point.
In singles matches, Spir failed to defeat Georgia Southern’s number one ranked player Jayraj Jadeja in a tough three-set match. However, strong performances from Potvin (6-0, 6-0) and O’Brien (6-0, 6-1) helped Tech rebound and earn a 5-2 victory.
Tech’s next opponent was the Wofford Terriers on Wednesday afternoon. The Jackets used strong performances from all of their players in cruising to a 6-1 win.
Tech took two out of three doubles matches from the Terriers, earning them the first point.
In singles, Potvin played Wofford’s number one seed Tansu Van Wyk, and won handedly 6-1, 6-3. Muguruza, playing as Tech’s fourth placed player, defeated Paul Bartholomy 6-1, 6-1.
The women’s tennis team started their spring season this week when they took on Chattanooga on Monday. The No. 10 Jackets shut out the Moccasins 7-0 en route to their first win.
Tech swept all three doubles matches, and used strong singles play to win the meet.
Sphomore Irina Falconi, the nation’s No. 1 singles player, cruised to an easy win over Jenna Nurik (6-1, 6-2). Fellow sophomore Viet Ha Ngo defeated Shaina Singh (6-1, 6-0) and senior Amanda McDowell blanked Charlotte Bossy (6-0, 6-0) to give the Jackets the victory. The Jackets won all six singles matches in straight sets.