On Feb. 24, the No. 14 Tech women’s tennis team took the court to face No. 12 Clemson in their first ACC match of the season. Tech was unable to defeat the higher ranked Tigers and fell 5-2.
Clemson took two of the three doubles matches from the Jackets, but the two Tech losses were highly contested. The team of sophomores Hillary Davis and Viet Ha Ngo fell to Clemson’s team of Laurianne Henry and Keri Wong 8-4. Sophomore Lynn Blau and freshman Elizabeth Kilborn came even closer to winning but were defeated 9-7. Tech’s team of sophomore Irina Falconi and junior Sasha Krupina did win their match 8-6, but it was not enough and Clemson earned the first point of the match.
No. 1 ranked Falconi tied the match at one by defeating No. 18 ranked Josipa Bek 6-3, 6-1. Falconi’s victory was her 14th over a ranked opponent this season.
Falconi’s victory did not give the Jackets any momentum however, as their number two player, Krupina, fell to Wong 6-3, 2-6, 6-0. The decision would give Clemson a 2-1 lead, a lead they would not relinquish.
Blau and Kilborn both lost their matches to clinch the victory for Clemson, but Davis won her match from the sixth spot after Clemson’s Estefania Balda retired.
“We had some opportunities but we just did not capitalize on all of them,” said head coach Bryan Shelton, courtesy of ramblinwreck.com.
The road will get no easier for the Jackets. Tech travels north to face No. 7 ranked Notre Dame on Feb. 27 and No. 2 Northwestern on Feb. 28.
The men’s tennis team traveled to Florida State on Feb. 21 and also lost their ACC openers.
Tech dropped all three doubles matches to give the Seminoles an early 1-0 lead.
No. 3 ranked junior Guillermo Gomez gave Tech the equalizer by defeating No. 35 Jean-Yves Aubone 6-1, 6-7 (7-9), 7-5.
Junior Dean O’Brien and freshmen Magin Ortega and Juan Spir all fell in three-set matches to give Florida State a 4-1 advantage.
Sophomore Kevin King did defeat his opponent in Tech’s fifth spot, but junior Eliot Potvin ended the match with a loss to give the Seminoles a 5-2 win.