With a pair of easy home wins over Maryland and Boston College, the No. 25 Tech men’s tennis team has vaulted to second place in the ACC standings. The Jackets swept Maryland 7-0 on Friday, April 2 and took down Boston College 5-2 a day later. Tech is now 15-3 overall and, at 6-1 in conference play, second in the ACC behind only Virginia, the nation’s No. 1 team.
Doubles play against Maryland started well for Tech. Juniors Eliot Potvin and Ryan Smith were the first to finish, taking their match 8-3 over Jesse Kiuru and John Collins. The court one tandem of sophomore Kevin King and freshman Juan Spir then clinched the doubles point with an 8-5 victory over Graham Knowlton and Ian Mansfield. Even with the point secured, the third doubles match went down to the wire, as Tech juniors Guillermo Gomez and Dean O’Brien won 8-7 on a tiebreaker over Tommy Lane and Sergio Wyss to sweep doubles play.
In singles play, the Jackets faced challenges in some matches but were ultimately able to win all six matches in straight sets.
The first to finish was the first-flight match between Gomez and Laine. Gomez, ranked No. 4 in the nation, rolled to a 6-2, 6-1 victory to put Tech ahead 2-0.
Sophomore Dusan Miljevic won 6-2, 6-0 on court six over Mansfield, and freshman Magin Ortiga took down Ryan Lissner 6-3, 6-1, clinching the match in Tech’s favor.
King, ranked No. 62, had a relatively easy victory over Kiuru to add to the lead, but Potvin and junior Miguel Muguruza faced closer battles in their matches. Muguruza held off Wyss 7-5, 6-3, but Potvin’s match against Collins went to a tiebreaker in both sets. Ultimately, Potvin came through to pull out the victory 7-6 (8-6), 7-6 (8-6).
Against BC, Tech quickly took the doubles point. King and Spir cruised to an 8-1 win over Jonathan Schroeder and Alex Skinner, and Potvin and Smith took down Akash Muppidi and Erik Kruetzer 8-5 to secure the point. Gomez and O’Brien faced a battle from Adam Davison and Thomas Nolan but held on to win 9-8 after sweeping a tiebreaker.
Even with Gomez sitting out in singles play, the Jackets quickly closed in on the victory. O’Brien took care of Skinner 6-4, 6-2 on court four, and Ortiga cruised to a 6-1, 6-1 triumph over Brian Locklear.
The Eagles rebounded with a pair of wins to close the gap. Muppidi edged Potvin 6-4, 6-4 in the second flight, and Miljevic put up a fight against Kreutzer but fell 6-4, 7-6 (7-4).
It appeared that Schroeder had the edge over Spir in their fifth-flight match, but despite dropping the first set, Spir rebounded to win 3-6, 6-4, 7-5. King, replacing Gomez on court one, also fell behind early but rebounded to complete the comeback victory 6-7 (6-8), 6-3, 7-6 (7-4).
Tech will make its final road trip of the year to face Duke and North Carolina this weekend.