On Sunday, March 7 the No. 29 ranked Tech men’s tennis team defeated a non-conference foe in No 48 UNC-Wilmington 6-1. With the win Tech improved to 9-3 for the spring season and has remained undefeated at home, 8-0.
Tech started out by sweeping all three of the doubles matches to take a 1-0 lead. The third-flight team of juniors Guillermo Gomez and Ryan Smith did not allow the UNC-Wilmington team of Michael Pereira and Alex Wetherell to win a single game, defeating them 8-0.
The tandem of juniors Eliot Potvin and Dean O’Brien also picked up a win against the UNC-Wilmington team of Illia Ziamtsou and Kosta Blank 8-3.
Both Kevin King and freshman Juan Spir slipped by Michael Pereira and Alex Wetherell in an 8-6 finish to finish off the sweep in the doubles matches.
In singles play, none of the matches went to three sets, and Tech picked up wins at the top three positions. Gomez was the first to finish, cruising with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Pereira on court number one. Gomez, currently ranked No. 5 in the nation, improved his record to 19-4 in singles and 6-2 in dual matches this spring.
Following Gomez’s match, King overtook the Seahawks’ Kinshuk Sharma 6-2, 6-1 and accounted for his fourth consecutive win since returning from injury. King had played in the top flight against Georgia State with Gomez out, and he shifted back to the No. 2 spot for his win over Sharma.
At the No. 6 position Spir defeated Anton Nikolov 6-3, 6-3 and clinched the win for Tech with the game score of 4-0.
Freshman Magin Ortiga increased the Jackets’ lead to 5-0 when he overtook Wetherell 6-0, 6-1. Ortiga improved his record to 7-3 in the spring with his win over Wetherell. Ortiga started out the year with a 6-6 record in the fall but has come on strong since then.
UNC-Wilmington received its lone point on the day when Blank beat O’Brien 6-3, 6-1 and put the Seahawks on the board at 5-1. In the final match, Potvin defeated Ziamtsou in straight sets 6-4, 6-3 to end the day with a Tech victory of 6-1.
The Jackets will resume conference play when they face the No. 39 Miami Hurricanes on March 14 at the Bill Moore Tennis Center. The Hurricanes are currently 4-3 on the year and are still searching for an ACC win.
Tech has played one conference match to date, losing on Feb. 21 to a Florida State squad that also defeated Miami earlier this season. All of Tech’s ten remaining matches are against ACC teams.