The Jackets had four matches last week, with the men’s team playing against Georgia State and Auburn, and the women’s team playing Illinois and Northwestern. The men’s team took down Georgia State 6–1 in the Ken Byers Tennis Complex and lost a hard fought affair on the road against Auburn, 2–5. The women’s team took care of business when going to the Midwest, taking down both Illinois 6-1 and Northwestern 5-2.
The men’s weekend started off against Georgia State. The Jackets took down the Panthers 2–1 to take the doubles point with juniors Marcus McDaniel and Andres Martin winning the tight fought match 7–6 [7–2] and freshman Robert Bauer and senior Brandon McKinney winning 7–5. The only loss of the doubles round was by junior Keshav Chopra and freshman Elias Shokry, falling 6–1.
The singles matches were more of the same, with Tech winning five out of the six matches they played. Then No. 72 Martin was dominant in his match against State graduate Roberts Grinvalds, winning in straight sets 6–0, 6–2. He didn’t drop a game until he was up 5–0 in the second set. McDaniel followed suit winning his match 6–2, 6–2.
McKinney then fell in straight sets to Panthers sophomore Edward Tymes, which gave State some hope. Unfortunately, that hope was quickly dashed. Sophomore Rohan Sachdev would win 6–4, 5–7, 6–3 over freshman Diogo Morais to secure the win for Tech. Chopra would also fought back from one set down and won 4–6, 6–3, 6–2. In the last match to finish, Shokry won 7–6 [7–5], 4–6, 6–2 to secure the 7–1 victory for the Jackets.
The men’s tennis team was unable to continue their winning ways against Auburn, falling 5–2. Martin and McDaniel were able to win a dominant doubles performance over Tigers seniors Raul Dobai and Finn Murgett, 6–0. Chopra and Shokry just lost out in a tight fought match 7–6 [7–5]. McKinney and Bauer lost 6–1, which led to Auburn taking the doubles point. In the singles matches, Martin was able to continue his winning ways over No. 66 Auburn senior Tyler Stice 6–2, 6–1. McDaniel would follow suit winning a tight fought match against No. 110 sophomore Will Nolan 6–3, 3–6, 7–5. Auburn would walk away with the rest of the singles matches with Chopra, Sachdev, Shokry and Bauer all losing.
The women’s team opened the weekend at the Atkins Tennis Center at the University of Illinois, winning 6–1. On court one, then No. 53 doubles team junior Carol Lee and sophomore Kate Sharabura would fall in their match against the Fighting Illini’s No. 19 team of junior Kate Duong and sophomore Megan Heuser 6–1. Tech was able to clinch the doubles point off of a strong performance from sophomore Kylie Bilchev and freshman Alejandra Cruz winning 6–4 on court two and senior Rosie Garcia Gross and junior Mahak Jain winning a hard fought match
7–6 [9–7] on court three. Then No. 10 Lee was able to turn around her doubles performance to win her singles match over Duong 7–5, 5–7, 6–4. Then No. 111 Bilchev was able to convert her emphatic doubles momentum over No. 70 senior Ashley Yeah to win 6–4, 3–6, 6–1. Then No. 109 Jain had the most comfortable win of the singles in straight sets 6–2, 6–4. Then No. 104 Cruz and Gross would also win their matches to clinch the win for Tech over the Illini.
After an emphatic win over Illinois, the Jackets went on to face Northwestern at the Combe Tennis Center and won 5–2. The Wildcats would take the doubles point after Bilchev and Cruz fell 4–6 on court two and Gross and Jain fell 6–1 on court three. Moving on to singles, Jain evened the match after gaining a dominant straight set victory 6–4, 6–2. Lee would continue her dominant run defeating her opponent in straight sets and Cruz would follow in the winning ways, putting the
Jackets in the lead. Bilchev would follow suit taking down her opponent, then No. 54 senior Christina Hand, and clinching a Jackets victory.
This weekend the men’s team is taking on South Carolina at Ken Byers Tennis Complex in the first ACC bout of the season on Feb. 10 at 5 p.m. They will then take on Georgia on Feb. 12 at noon, also at home. The women’s team takes on Gonzaga at noon on Feb. 18 at home, and then will face off against Georgia at 1 p.m. on Feb. 19 in Athens.