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A weekly look into swimming and diving, track and field, cross country, softball, women’s basketball, tennis, volleyball, golf, and anything else we happen to see on campus.
No. 7 Women’s Tennis:
The Racket Jackets, to borrow a phrase, came up just short this weekend at the ITA Indoor National Championships. The Jackets, who were seeded fifth overall in the tournament, started the weekend with a convincing 4-2 victory over No. 10 Michigan, who they had struggled against at the Michigan Invite earlier in the indoor tennis season. The Jackets moved on to face No. 6 Pepperdine, who handed the Jackets their first lost doubles point this season. The Jackets fell by the slimmest of margins, one point, in the end. However, Tech got to play in consolation against defending champion Florida, and earned a win in a close match, their first-ever win ever over Gators, ending the weekend on a high note.
This week: Tech hosts their fourth-ranked Athenian archrivals February 23rd at 3 pm in what will be a battle top top ranked tennis titans.
Indoor Track and Field
The Jackets wound up in three different places this weekend, so any hope of a team title was essentially moot from the moment they split for, in typical fashion, Nashville and Clemson, as well as beautiful, breezy Ames, Iowa. The most important result of the weekend was Nahom Solomon’s excellent 3000m run in Ames, breaking the school record and vaulting him to second in the meet with the conference’s third best mark of the year. Also at the Iowa State Classic, Avery Bartlett’s 800m set a new conference standard for the indoor track season, a nice set up for the impending ACC championship. At Vanderbilt, Frank Pittman turned in another fine mile, finishing fourth. Meanwhile, the women turned in great runs as well, with Nicole Fegans’ 3000m run being the highlight of the meet. In Clemson, the sprinters did fine, with Jeanine Williams, as per usual, being the standout of the bunch.
This week: The Jackets have two weeks until the ACC Championships back in, you guessed it, Clemson, South Carolina.
Softball
Friday, February 9th: Lipscomb (1 - 0) edges Georgia Tech (0 - 1), 1-0 (8).
Friday, February 9th: Florida A&M (1 - 2) hangs on against Georgia Tech (0 - 2), 8-6.
The Jackets played opposite games to open the season in Alabama this Friday. Before the Saturday games got washed out, Tech managed to hold Lipscomb to only five hits, yet were sent to extras because they finagled just two hits of their own, before ultimately falling 1-0. Emily Anderson threw eight innings and recorded five strikeouts. The Jackets left eight runners on the bases but committed no errors in former Tech great Aileen Morales’ regular season debut as head coach.
In the second game, Tech promptly dug themselves into a sizable hole, which they were never able to climb out of. To paraphrase an old song, “how far can you travel when you’re six runs under?” Anyways, the Jackets were able to stop the bleeding, capitalizing on four Florida A&M errors and led at the plate by RF Sydney Stavro, to put their first three runs of the season on the board before a late rally in the seventh inning. Though the Jackets got three more runs in the final frame, the Rattler lead proved insurmountable, and Tech ultimately fell by a score of 8-6.
This week: Tech has five scheduled for back in Atlanta, at Georgia State for a midweek tilt, and then hosting Nebraska and Indiana twice apiece.
Women’s Basketball
, February : Georgia Tech (15 - 10) smokes Boston College (6 - 18), 63-47.
, February : No. 5 Notre Dame (23 - 2) dispatches Georgia Tech (15 - 11), 85-69.
Watching the Jackets Thursday night was somewhat cathartic. After a string of frustrating losses, it was relieving to witness the Jackets capitalize on 35 Boston College turnovers and thoroughly eviscerate their guests, who are decidedly not the best team in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Two Tech scorers wound up in double figures, including Kierra Fletcher, who also reeled in nine rebounds. Tech only allowed 14 points in the first half, and did a great job forcing errors. It was good to see the Jackets handle their business thoroughly.
The Jackets almost messed around and walked away with an upset in South Bend, after entering halftime knotted at 39 with the Fighting Irish. The Jackets, still winless at Notre Dame, ultimately fell 85-69. In an interesting coincidence, they were not the only Tech basketball team to finish with that number of points today. Four Jackets finished in double figures and the team turned the ball over less than they did against Boston College, but after allowing Notre Dame to pull away, and mounting a comeback run, the Jackets ultimately ran out of gas as the home team relentlessly marched to victory in front of a healthy crowd of almost 8,500 people.
This Week: Women’s basketball hosts North Carolina Thursday night.
Swimming and Diving - Women’s ACC Championships Preview
Iris Wang.
Just kidding, of course. There’s a whole roster, and she is but one swimmer. The Jackets, who sit at no. 36 in CollegeSwimming.com’s projections, head into ACCs looking up at seven conference-mates in the NCAA elite. Tech’s iron woman, Emily Ilgenfritz, will be a factor in every distance event, and Carrie Lee, Florina Ilie, and Laura Branton finish the season as Tech’s top backstroke, breaststroke, and butterfly specialists. As always, Iris Wang is an elite sprinter. Look for Camryn Hidalgo, the freshman twice named ACC Diver of the Week, to be a huge contributor on the boards. All in all, the meet should be a fine one for the Jackets, who don’t have the star power to fend off the Louisvilles or Virginias of the world, but if their depth steps up, like Kaitlin Kitchens in the sprints, Sara Gilbert in the backstroke, Kira de Bruyn and Catriona MacGregor in the Individual Medley, and Camille Long and Tamir Gonen in the distance, it’ll be a solid meet for Tech Swim and Dive.
For men’s basketball coverage: A pair of defeats, to Louisville on the road and an emotional loss to Duke at home.
For baseball coverage: Coming soon to a website near you. Namely, this one.
This Week on the Flats:
BOLD for home, REGULAR for away, ITALIC for time and location
Monday: OFF
Tuesday: OFF
Wednesday:
Swimming and Diving (Women) @ ACC Championships Prelims
10:00 AM, Greensboro, NC
Women’s Softball @ Georgia State
5:00 PM, Panthersville, GA
Swimming and Diving (Women) @ ACC Championships Finals
6:00 PM, Greensboro, NC
Men’s Basketball @ Wake Forest
9:00 PM, Winston-Salem, NC, Regional Sports Networks
Thursday:
Swimming and Diving (Women) @ ACC Championships Prelims
10:00 AM, Greensboro, NC
Swimming and Diving (Women) @ ACC Championships Finals
6:00 PM, Greensboro, NC
Women’s Basketball vs. North Carolina
7:00 PM, McCamish Pavilion, ACC Network Extra
Friday:
Men’s Tennis @ ITA Indoor National Championships
All day, Seattle, WA
Swimming and Diving (Women) @ ACC Championships Prelims
10:00 AM, Greensboro, NC
Softball vs. Nebraska (Home Opener)
4:00 PM, Mewborn Field, ACC Network Extra
Baseball vs. Minnesota (Home Opener)
4:00 PM, Russ Chandler Stadium, ACC Network Extra
Men’s Tennis vs. Clemson
5:00 PM, Ken Byers Tennis Complex
Swimming and Diving (Women) @ ACC Championships Finals
6:00 PM, Greensboro, NC
Saturday:
Swimming and Diving (Women) @ ACC Championships Prelims
10:00 AM, Greensboro, NC
Men’s Basketball vs. Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
12:00 PM, McCamish Pavilion, ESPN2
Baseball vs. Bradley
2:00 PM, The Rusty C, ACC Network Extra
Softball vs. Nebraska
3:00 PM, Mewborn Field, ACC Network Extra
Softball vs. Indiana
5:30 PM, Mewborn Field, ACC Network Extra
Swimming and Diving (Women) @ ACC Championships Finals
6:00 PM, Greensboro, NC
Sunday:
Men’s Golf @ Puerto Rico Classic
All day, Río Grande, PR
Men’s Tennis vs. South Carolina
12:00 PM, Ken Byers Tennis Complex
Softball vs. Indiana
12:30 PM, Mewborn Field, ACC Network Extra
Baseball vs. Connecticut
3:00 PM, The Rusty C, ACC Network Extra