Yellow Jacket Roundup: February 26th, 2018

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.

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No. 7 Men’s Golf

Tech was cruising through the Puerto Rico Classic, until they weren’t. In true Atlanta fashion, the Yellow Jackets coughed up a six stroke lead on the back nine, stumbling all the way to fourth overall. Luke Schneiderjans finished all the way in 43rd after being the individual champion last year. However, it was an interesting competition for other ranked teams as well, with no. 1 Alabama placing behind Tech in fifth. Such is the fickle game of golf. On the bright side, Tyler Strafaci, Noah Norton, and Chris Petefish all finished in the top ten on the week, which is, of course, promising, as always. However, it was not what the Jackets drew up and they aim to iron all of these out before the NCAA championship at the end of the year.

This Week: Golf is off for two weeks, when they head to Myrtle Beach for the General Hackler Championship.

No. 12 Women’s Tennis

Tech beat the school in Athens 4-2 on Friday afternoon, their first win on the Flats since 2010, marking the second straight year they’ve topped their archrivals. The Jackets took the doubles point, with Paige Hourigan and Kenya Jones, the no. 4 pair in the nation, as dominant as ever of u[sic]ga’s no. 11 challengers. Also on the day, Nami Otsuka, Jones, and Johnnise Renaud all took points in the victory.

On Sunday, the Jackets headed to Tallahassee and knocked off the no. 19 Florida State Seminoles by taking the doubles point and three straight singles sets, deciding the match. Florida State proceeded to win the other three singles matches, but by then it was took late, as the Jackets had already seized the victory. Jones, Renaud, and Ida Jarlskog were the singles winners on the day.

This Week: ACC tilts against Virginia on Friday and Louisville on Sunday this weekend. The Friday matchup is part of a doubleheader that sees the men host Miami following the 2:30 start against the Cavaliers.

Men’s Tennis

The Jackets took the doubles point but fell 5-2 on the road to the no. 24 Texas Longhorns. Elijah Melendez went to a lengthy tiebreaker to scratch out Tech’s second point. Notably, Carlos Divar and Michael Kay took down the no. 3 doubles team in the nation, but five Jackets fell in straight sets, which is an impossible setback to overcome. Winning sets helps win matches, and the Jackets played excellent doubles, but didn’t quite crack the Longhorns singles players.

This Week: Tech hosts the U and Georgia State this weekend on the Flats.

No. 25 (Men) / NR (Women) Swimming and Diving

The Yellow Jackets ultimately finished in ninth at the ACC Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships. This isn’t terrible, but not quite what they could’ve done. A few crucial disqualifications hurt Tech, but sometimes swimmers just get beat. This was one of those weeks for the men, and losing any relay entry is brutal, since relays count for double the points, not to mention the 1:28.46 in the 200 Medley would’ve been a school record. The 800 Free Relay managed to break that record without false starting, along with several other school-best standards. No Jackets were able to secure any elusive A-cuts for the NCAA Championships, but Colt Williamson, Caio Pumpitis, Rodrigo Correia, Christian Ferraro, Joonas Koski, Brennan Day, Tim Slanschek, Moises Loschi, Franco Reyes, Brad Oberg, Alex Kimpel, Johnathon Yang, and Clay Herring all are in consideration for national swims with their B-cuts after this weekend. Who swims in March is still to be determined, but these men did a fine job swimming at ACCs this year.

Meanwhile in Athens, a dozen Jackets competed in the Bulldog Last Chance Meet and will likely wrap up their season accordingly.

This Week: Some of them are done for the year. Some are headed to Austin for the American Short Course Championships. Some are staying on the Flats for the TYR Pro Swim Series. The latter features Olympians and such and will be at Tech this week.

Track and Field

The biggest news from Clemson this weekend was Jeanine Williams winning the 60m hurdles at the ACC Championships. In fact, including Raven Stewart’s eighth place finish, this one event accounted for 11 of the Tech women’s 14 points, placing them in 13th in the conference. Meanwhile, the men took eighth overall with 37 points, and Nahom Solomon had another great meet, landing him in fourth in the conference in both the 3000m and 5000m runs. The Tech men had many other top ten finishes, and it was, overall, a solid meet for the Jackets.

This Week: Tech’s next action is for a select few at the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships in College Station, Texas, March 9th and 10th.

Softball

Friday, February 23rd: Fairfield (2 - 4) squeaks past Georgia Tech (2 - 6), 4-3.

Friday, February 23rd: Georgia Tech (3 - 6) handles Campbell (5 - 6), 6-2.

Saturday, February 24th: Georgia Tech (4 - 6) strikes back against Fairfield (3 - 5), 13-4 (5).

Saturday, February 24th: Georgia Tech (5 - 6) edges LaSalle (0 - 3), 3-2.

Sunday, February 25th: Georgia Tech (6 - 6) defeats Campbell (7 - 8), 8-0 (6).

Lots of softball again this week:
- Tech took a 2-0 lead off of Fairfield with a productive first inning. Breanna Roper led off with a double, followed by a Rebecca Prairie walk. Katie Krzus plated both with a single. After Fairfield tied the game, and later took the lead, Krzus responded again with a home run to tie the game at 3. However, the homer was answered and Tech fell by a run.
- Tech pitching was excellent in the second game, with Naomi Dickerson pitching four scoreless innings. Prairie again contributed, with a home run to start the scoring. Plenty of underclassmen pitched in, and Tech, which saw their lead shrink to 4-2, added two insurance runs and bounced back with a win.
- The Jackets avenged their loss with an absolute demolition of Fairfield. Dickerson, who allowed just one run in the first four innings pitched, was pulled after letting two more score. However, the Jackets led 10-3 off of good production at the plate, notably by Krzus and Crosby Huckabay. Freshman Cameron Stanford knocked a two run home to clinch the win in shortened play for the Jackets.
- Tech’s offense was much more sparse in the second game, with Tech scoring first off of a Roper triple, with Prairie bringing her home. LaSalle took the lead and held it until the seventh, but Stanford hit her second home run, followed by the game winner by Draven Sonnon to walk it off.
- Krzus hit two more dingers to send Tech back to Atlanta happy on Sunday. Both came with Prairie on base after walking, while the second also had Roper on second after doubling. The junior from Orland Park, Illinois took a walk in the sixth with the bases loaded, which also led to a run, and Tech ultimately run-ruled the hosts and played what very well could have been their best softball in several years.
After this weekend, Tech softball is at .500 for the first time since 2014. Whoa.

This week: Tech plays six at home, featuring an eclectic mix of teams from metro Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit, and Storrs, CT.

Women’s Basketball

Thursday, February 23rd: Georgia Tech (17 - 11) floods the Hurricanes (19 - 9), 70-51.

Sunday, February 25th: No. 9 Florida State (24 - 5) hangs on against Georgia Tech (17 - 12), 64-61.

Tech came out of halftime on fire against the Hurricanes Thursday night on the Flats. The Jackets somewhat ironically forced countless Miami turnovers, and the sloppier play by the guests led to the Jackets’ excellent 20-8 margin in the frame. On senior day, sophomore star Francesca Pan stole the show with her 24 points and four steals. The team had a season-high 21 steals on the game. Though the guests came close late in the fourth quarter, cutting the lead to just twelve points, Tech never trailed in the second half and ultimately pulled away to win by a wide margin.

Led by 16 points from Elo Edeferioka and 14 from Pan, Tech nearly defeated a great Seminole team on the road Sunday afternoon. Florida State’s three-pointer to close the first half gave them the narrowest of leads, at just one point, fitting for such a back-and-forth game. Tech’s largest lead was five points, and Florida State led by that same margin with two minutes to play in the second half. Tech cut the lead to just one point in the final second, but, after a missed Florida State free throw, the ball went to the Seminoles. After they hit their two free throws, Pan took a final heave that just missed sending the thrilling game to overtime. After a rough January, Tech has shown the promise they had in their electric non-conference season once more.

This Week: Tech opens the ACC tournament in Greensboro against Clemson, who they beat handily twice in the regular season.

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For men’s basketball coverage: Tech couldn’t seal the deal in two close games to ranked Virginia and Clemson.

For baseball coverage: Baseball is on a four game win streak after beating Georgia Southern and sweeping Dartmouth.

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This Week on the Flats:

BOLD for home, REGULAR for away, ITALIC for time and location

Monday: OFF

Tuesday:
Baseball vs. Arkansas-Pine Bluff
4:00 PM, The Rusty C, ACC Network Extra

Wednesday:
Women’s Basketball vs. Clemson @ ACC Tournament
3:30 PM, Greensboro, NC, RSN
Softball vs. Kennesaw State
6:00 PM, Mewborn Field, ACC Network Extra

Thursday:
Swimming and Diving @ American Short Course Championships
All Day, Austin, TX
Women’s Basketball vs. TBA @ ACC Tournament
TBA, Greensboro, NC, RSN
Swimming and Diving hosts TYR Pro Swim Series
10:00 AM and 7:00 PM, McAuley Aquatic Center
Men’s Basketball vs. North Carolina State
8:00 PM, McCamish Pavilion, ACC Network

Friday:
Swimming and Diving @ American Short Course Championships
All Day, Austin, TX
Women’s Basketball vs. TBA @ ACC Tournament
TBA, Greensboro, NC, RSN
Swimming and Diving hosts TYR Pro Swim Series
10:00 AM and 7:00 PM, McAuley Aquatic Center
Softball vs. DePaul
1:00 PM, Mewborn Field, ACC Network Extra
Softball vs. DePaul
3:00 PM, Mewborn Field, ACC Network Extra
Women’s Tennis vs. Virginia
2:30 PM, Ken Byers Tennis Complex
Baseball vs. University of Illinois-Chicago
4:00 PM, The Rusty C, ACC Network Extra
Men’s Tennis vs. Miami
5:30 PM, Ken Byers Tennis Complex

Saturday:
Swimming and Diving @ American Short Course Championships
All Day, Austin, TX
Women’s Basketball vs. TBA @ ACC Tournament
TBA, Greensboro, NC, RSN
Swimming and Diving hosts TYR Pro Swim Series
10:00 AM and 7:00 PM, McAuley Aquatic Center
Men’s Basketball vs. Wake Forest
12:00 PM, McCamish Pavilion, RSNs
Softball vs. Connecticut
1:00 PM, Mewborn Field, ACC Network Extra
Men’s Tennis vs. Georgia State
2:00 PM, Ken Byers Tennis Complex
Baseball vs. University of Illinois-Chicago
2:00 PM, The Rusty C, ACC Network Extra
Softball vs. Connecticut
3:00 PM, Mewborn Field, ACC Network Extra

Sunday:
Women’s Basketball vs. TBA @ ACC Tournament
TBA, Greensboro, NC, RSN
Swimming and Diving hosts TYR Pro Swim Series
10:00 AM and 7:00 PM, McAuley Aquatic Center
Women’s Tennis vs. Louisville
12:00 PM, Ken Byers Tennis Complex
Baseball vs. University of Illinois-Chicago
1:00 PM, The Rusty C, ACC Network Extra
Softball vs. Detroit-Mercy
1:00 PM, Mewborn Field, ACC Network Extra