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ATLANTA, GEORGIA - With the homecoming high fading into the rearview mirror and Tech faithful headed home, it’s time to take a look at the teams that weren’t so fortunate this week - the ones that had to be off campus as the heat finally broke, the weather turned nice, and, for fifty eight minutes at least, the alumni and fans in the stands enjoyed a beautiful homecoming day at Bobby Dodd Stadium
No. 4 Men’s Golf
After knocking off Kent State on Monday, the Jackets turned right around to take down South Carolina on Tuesday, seizing the mantle of co-champions of the Jack Nichlaus Invitational after the final round of play was canceled due to the incoming hurricane. Since teams had largely pre-determined travel plans, Clemson and Georgia Tech shared the title rather than play for the third and final round of competition with the storm bearing down. On the weekend, the Jackets saw two athletes, Tyler Strafaci and James Clark, go undefeated in match play. Additionally, Ben Smith and Luke Schneiderjans each won one of their individual matches while Andy Ogletree halved both of his matches. One presumes that means tying the match, based on context and the Wikipedia article on match play in golf, which doesn’t explicitly state it. Freshman Connor Howe was 0-2 on the tournament.
This week: The Jackets return almost inside the perimeter as they host their annual tournament at the Golf Club of Georgia in Alpharetta. They are 28-0-1 on the season, with 10 wins against top-25 opponents, as they open against their strongest slate of the fall this weekend.
No. 26/NR Cross Country
Defying all logic, after facing exactly no one since the last rankings came out, the lady Jackets moved down six spots in the rankings before heading to Penn State this weekend. That must’ve angered them, since they wound up with a very solid third place finish, behind no. 14 Michigan State and the 19th-ranked host team. Tech outran no. 27 Utah and no. 29 Princeton, as well as Dartmouth and Georgetown, who received votes, in the field of 27 teams. Both freshman Hana Herndon and senior Mary Prouty finished in the top ten, and everyone else was less than a minute behind the leaders. Of the seven scorers, two are from each class, with the exception of junior Amy Ruiz, making for an exceptionally balanced attack.
Meanwhile, the men placed twelfth out of twenty teams this weekend, which isn’t an amazing look, but more promising than it seems. As coach Alan Drosky noted, a ten second improvement from each in a 25 minute long race would yield a top-five finish. Not bad. To boot, Tech managed to knock off no. 27 Iona, their first ranked upset of the year.
This week: Tech is off until they return to Jamaica Plains for the ACC championship at the end of the month.
Volleyball
Friday, October 12th: Georgia Tech (12 - 8) falls to Wake Forest (7 - 12), 25-20, 11-25, 25-23, 25-13 (3 - 1).
Sunday, October 14th: Georgia Tech (13 - 8) beats Duke ( - ), (3 - 1).
I have good news and I have bad news. Start with the bad news, you say? Perfect. I was going to do that anyways. Tech started off the weekend with a loss at Wake Forest, a team that is the second worst in the conference. Though Tech sits at no. 75 in the RPI rankings, which is a nice step up from last year, losing to terrible teams like Wake Forest does no good for the postseason hopes. There are still two games remaining against Pittsburgh, who currently sit at no. 4 in the RPI rankings. Cleaning up against worse teams like Virginia Tech, Boston College, and Wake Forest is critical. Yet Tech has lost all three. Somehow. It’s still a young team, but losing to subpar teams in four sets is bad, especially one where Tech absolutely demolished Wake Forest in the second set. This isn’t a bad team. They looked near unstoppable in that second set. But yet, as we’ve had to say a lot so far this conference season, they lost.
The good news, however, is that Tech salvaged the weekend by knocking off a top 50 Duke team on the road. The Jackets came out on fire, though trailed early in the first set. The slim lead they seized, though, held, and they escaped with a first set win. Duke almost tied it up in the second, but Tech found two points in a row to win the set with a 26th point. After Duke forced a fourth set by the narrowest of margins, Tech won the last set by the biggest margin of the day, 25-20. Mikaila Dowd, Mariana Brambilla, and Matti McKissock, all freshmen, all had double-doubles on the day, McKissock added 45 assists, and Dominique Washington executed four blocks. When this team plays well, it can play with the best of them, just like we saw against the school out east.
This week: Tech heads to investigate what was last week almost turned into beachfront property in Tallahassee, but blessedly is not, followed by a trip to the actual beach in Miami.
Softball
The Chipola game was cancelled, but was replaced with Georgia Military College in Panthersville. The results have not been posted.
This week: Tech’s final weekend game comes against West Georgia Friday at 5:00 PM.
Football
For this week’s football coverage, click here.
This Week on the Flats:
BOLD for home, REGULAR for away, ITALIC for time and location
Monday: OFF
Tuesday: OFF
Wednesday:
Men’s Tennis @ ITA Regional Championships
All day, Athens, GA
Thursday:
Men’s Tennis @ ITA Regional Championships
All day, Athens, GA
Women’s Tennis hosts ITA Regional Championships
All day, Ken Byers Tennis Complex
Friday:
Golf hosts the Golf Club of Georgia Collegiate Invitational
8:30 AM, Alpharetta, GA
Swimming and Diving hosts Miami, FGCU, and SCAD
3:00 PM, McAuley Aquatic Center
Softball vs. West Georgia
5:00 PM, Mewborn Field
Volleyball @ Florida State
6:30 PM, Tallahassee, FL, ACC Network Extra and WREK 91.1
Men’s Tennis @ ITA Regional Championships
All day, Athens, GA
Women’s Tennis hosts ITA Regional Championships
All day, Ken Byers Tennis Complex
Saturday:
Golf hosts the Golf Club of Georgia Collegiate Invitational
8:30 AM, Alpharetta, GA
Swimming and Diving hosts Miami and Notre Dame
11:00 AM, McAuley Aquatic Center
Men’s Tennis @ ITA Regional Championships
All day, Athens, GA
Women’s Tennis hosts ITA Regional Championships
All day, Ken Byers Tennis Complex
Sunday:
Golf hosts the Golf Club of Georgia Collegiate Invitational
8:30 AM, Alpharetta, GA
Volleyball @ Miami
1:00 PM, Miami, FL, ACC Network Extra and WREK 91.1
Men’s Tennis @ ITA Regional Championships
All day, Athens, GA
Women’s Tennis hosts ITA Regional Championships
All day, Ken Byers Tennis Complex