Men’s tennis beats USC, 6-1

The No. 23 Tech men’s tennis team faced off against the South Carolina Gamecocks on Saturday Jan. 23 in Columbia. Tech opened up its 2011 season the previous week against The University of South Carolina Upstate, winning 7-0 in dominating fashion. The Jackets cruised past their SEC neighbor and continued their perfect record with a 6-1 victory.
The opening doubles matches went strongly in favor of Tech, with one of the nation’s elite doubles team made up of junior Kevin King and sophomore Juan Spir winning the first match easily, 8-5. The Jackets also took the second doubles match, with a strong showing by Seniors Dean O’Brien and Guillermo Gomez, winning 8-3. The final doubles match went the Jackets way as well, with Seniors Eliot Potvin and Ryan Smith claiming a final 8-3 win.
Tech showed the same high caliber performance in the second portion of the matchup between the two schools, the singles matches. Gomez, a top-15 player nationally, opened up with a convincing win over South Carolina’s Ivan Machado, taking the match 6-4, 6-0.

No. 48 ranked Spir defeated the Gamecock’s Nick Jones 7-5 6-4 in difficult match. Finally, King beat South Carolina’s Johannes Plusfort in straight sets, winning 6-4, 6-3. The Jackets only loss came in the fifth and final match, where Tech sophomore Magin Ortega fell to the Gamecock’s Chip Cox after taking the first set, only to lose 6-7, 6-0, 6-2.
Gomez played a stellar tournament and helped clinch the match for the Jackets with his singles match win. He extended his record to 13-4 on the season, and recorded his 98th career victory.
Gomez and the rest of the team look to add to their win streak this season when they travel to the Dan Magill Tennis Complex in Athens, Georgia to face rival Georgia, divisional rival North Carolina and Oklahoma State in the ITA National Kickoff weekend.
Tech has had mixed results in Athens in the past. Gomez won the Southern Intercollegiate Championship over Georgia’s Javier Garrapiz in Athens this past September. But the Jackets struggled in the Bulldog Scramble last November, posting just an 11-21 record in singles and doubles over the span of the three-day tournament.
The tournament is scheduled to start Jan. 29 at 10 a.m.
“I feel we competed enthusiastically all day. South Carolina has always been tough at their place so its good to get a solid win. We are going to get a good week of practice getting ready for UNC at the National Indoors next Saturday,” said Head Coach Kenny Thorne courtesy of ramblinwreck.com.