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Your friendly neighborhood non-revenue reporter has been out of commission for the better part of two weeks so here’s a fortnight of scores and news on your Yellow Jackets.
No. 3 Golf
Golf took fourth in the Valspar Collegiate, facing a field of sixteen teams, thirteen of whom were ranked. Tech’s scores all fell between 13th and 31st, with no one starring, but no one playing bad golf. The Jackets, however, have won this tournament in the past, and were the runner-up last year, paced by Tyler Strafaci’s individual championship. With play improving in tougher weather conditions on the back half of of the competition, the Jackets ultimately ended up with a respectable showing against a competitive field.
This Week: Golf is off this week.
No. 6 Women’s Tennis
The Jackets headed to Lubbock the weekend before last to face Cornell and Texas Tech. In the first match, the Jackets made quick work of Cornell, sweeping them 7-0. The Jackets didn’t drop a set in the entire match. In the second contest, Tech defeated the no. 9 Red Raiders 4-3 by taking the doubles point and three singles points. The elite duo of Paige Hourigan and Kenya Jones, ranked fourth in the nation at the time, and Johnnise Renaud and Nami Otsuka both secured wins in their games. Meanwhile, Hourigan, Jones, and Victoria Flores all claimed their singles points to secure the match over the top-10 foe.
This past weekend, Tech upset no. 1 ranked North Carolina in their first match of the weekend. The Jackets pulled off this improbable win despite their now-no. 1 ranked tandem of Jones and Hourigan drop their doubles set. However, the other pairs stepped up, winning both sets to take the doubles point. On the singles side, Tech grabbed three points, taking the game over the top ranked Tar Heels. On Sunday, the Jackets handled North Carolina State 6-1, sweeping the doubles point, and supported by wins from Renaud, Hourigan, Jones, Flores, and Otsuka in singles. The Jackets are clicking and playing some great tennis and are setting themselves up well for the end of the season. Their play against top ranked schools thus far has been outstanding.
This Week: Women’s Tennis heads to Syracuse after hosting Notre Dame.
No. NR/25 Swimming and Diving
Last week, Iris Wang was the Jackets’ sole representative at the women’s NCAA Championships. The junior broke her own records in the 50 and 100 freestyle, earning a 37th and 19th place finish in each, respectively. Additionally, she managed a 32nd place finish in the 200 freestyle.
Four Yellow Jackets qualified for the men’s NCAA Championships, freshmen Caio Pumpitis and Christian Ferraro, junior Matt Casillas, and senior Moises Loschi. One day one of competition, Pumpitis and Ferraro both swam the 200 IM, placing 36th and 45th, respectively. Friday, both Loschi and Pumpitis tied for 34th in the 100 Breaststroke with a 53.53. Meanwhile, Ferraro touched the wall with a 46.67 in the 100 Butterfly, good for 35th overall. In the final day of competition for the Jackets, Loschi swam the 200 Breaststroke, placing 21st, but off his best time by a fair bit, while Pumpitis was disqualified. Ferraro also came in 21st in the 200 Butterfly, while Casillas placed 31st in the plaform diving event. All in all, a fairly solid meet for the Jackets, though a little spare in depth at the top. Look for the freshman to build on their strong seasons with another year of experience under their belts.
This Week: Tech Swimming and Diving is off until late September, barring appearances for club teams in meets over the summer.
Women’s Basketball
The Jackets defeated Bethune-Cookman and the University of Alabama-Birmingham in the Women’s NIT before falling to Alabama in the quarterfinals, 61-59. Though not the performance they enjoyed last year, and though Tech loses a few key seniors, they will retool with a stellar recruiting class and should be able to improve on this year’s performance under the steady hand of their proven coaching staff and quality veteran and young players alike.
This Week: Women’s Basketball is off for the summer.
Volleyball
Tech started off their spring slate with a match against the most recent national runner-up Florida Gators. Tech took two of the five sets again the Gators in the exhibition.
This Week: Tech hosts a round robin tournament featuring georgia, Auburn, Florida, Clemson, Kennesaw State, and Georgia State on Saturday.
Softball
Wednesday, March 14th: Alabama (18-5) defeats Georgia Tech (14-8), 3-1.
Friday, March 16th: Georgia Tech (15-8) shuts out North Carolina State (14-10), 3-0.
Saturday, March 17th: North Carolina State (15-10) strikes back against Georgia Tech (15-9), 4-2.
Sunday, March 18th: Georgia Tech (16-9) handles North Carolina State (15-11), 5-0.
Friday, March 23rd: Georgia Tech (17-9) rallies to beat Pacific (10-18), 8-6.
Friday, March 23rd: CSUN (14-22) overcomes Georgia Tech (17-10), 6-1.
Saturday, March 24th: Georgia Tech (18-10) tames Cal Poly (15-13), 2-1.
Saturday, March 24th: Georgia Tech (19-10) slaughters Santa Clara (4-22), 11-0 (5).
Sunday, March 25th: Santa Clara (5-22) stuns Georgia Tech (19-11), 7-6.
- All it took for ‘Bama were two quick home runs and Tech was unable to put more than one run across against the ranked Crimson Tide.
- Tech took a quick 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first off of a Lily Hooper single and never looked back, winning the ACC home opener in shutout fashion, 3-0.
- The Jackets couldn’t take advantage of several key situations with runners on to fall to the Wolfpack 4-2. Though Tech led 2-1 at one point, a three run home run was the margin in the game in the top of the sixth inning.
- With a first inning RBI single from Crosby Huckabay, Tech took the lead early and never looked back. Draven Sonnen added two solo home runs as Tech cruised to a nice 5-0 victory and a second straight ACC series win.
- The Jackets trailed by as many as four runs in the opener on the West Coast. That’s when Katie Krzus first made the score 5-2, then 5-5 off of two assertive home runs by the bottom of the sixth. Though Tech allowed one in the top of the final frame, the Jackets were able to rally and score three runs going away, when Kelsey Chisholm sent a full count pitch to the seats for a walk-off three run home run.
- Tech struck first in the fifth on some small ball, but gave up five in the bottom of the inning, ultimately falling to unfamiliar competition 6-1.
- Again, the Jackets were on the board first thanks to a Krzus double in the third inning, which scored Cameron Stanford. After Cal Poly tied it at 1-1, Stanford delivered the deciding score with a single to left field, scoring Hooper.
- Simply put, Tech has to beat teams like Santa Clara. On Saturday, they did just that, scoring 11 runs on just five hits to run-rule the Broncos. After getting on the board with a solo home run from Stanford in the first, Tech scored six runs off of no hits - a comical eight walks and three wild pitches - in the second. Three more Tech walks sandwiched between some hits led to five more runs in the fourth as Tech went on two win the shortened game 11-0.
- On Sunday, the Jackets were not quite so lucky. The team, which has been inconsistent this year, to say the least, had a clunker against the team they had handled so easily the day before. Tech led 5-0 before three costly errors doomed the Jackets. Tech managed to go back up 6-5, but the Broncos rallied in the bottom of the last inning to walk off with just their fifth victory of the season.
This Week: Tech returns home for six straight home games, hosting Georgia State, Florida State, and georgia.
Track and Field
The Jackets set several school records and took home top honors on the podium multiple times in their home invitational the weekend before last. Alex Grady broke the school record in the 2000m steeplechase, while Nahom Solomon continued his excellent running with a stellar 1500m race. The women’s 2000m steeplechase record was also broken, by Hailey Gollnick, and Jeanine Williams again won a hurdles event, as she to impressed like she has all year.
Tech managed to finish fifth and seventh, respectively, in the Florida State Relays over spring break. However, there were only seven teams competing in the college bracket. The most notable performance was Avery Bartlett in the 1500m, a personal best that vaulted him into the hunt for the fastest time in the conference in the young outdoor season. On the women’s side, Maurinice Bauman took first in the 400m hurdles, and the relays were solid. Overall, not Tech’s best meet, but certainly not their ceiling.
This Week: Tech heads to Gainesville for the Florida Relays.
Men’s Tennis
Tech started off spring break with a loss to no. 11 Florida State 5-2. The pair of points came from Michael Kay/Carlos Divar and Elijah Melendez/Chris Yun’s stellar doubles play. However, the Jackets managed just one singles victory, by Kay. The rest of Tech’s singles fell to the highly ranked Seminoles.
This past weekend, Tech faced both Virginia and Louisville and lost two more times. Yun had the only victory in the 6-1 loss to the Cavaliers. Against Louisville, Tech nearly managed to upset the nation’s 48th ranked team, but narrowly lost again, 4-3. The doubles point proved to be the difference in the match, as the two teams split the singles matches. Kay, Yun, and Andrew Li all won their courts but Tech was unable to flip any other matches to secure the victory.
This Week: Tennis hosts VPISU Thursday at the Ken Byers Tennis Complex.
Baseball
Though the Jackets took game one of the road series against no. 6 North Carolina State in dominating fashion on Friday, winning 13-4, they were unable to pull off any other upsets, falling 5-2 and 9-6. In Friday’s first game, Xzavion Curry throttled the Wolfpack, striking out 11 in seven innings of one-run ball. After the Jackets scored six runs in the first inning, they never looked back and cruised to a win, tacking on another six insurance runs in the final frame. Nick Wilhite had three well-deserved hits on the day, as did Colin Hall.
In the second game, North Carolina State struck first in a calamitous five-run fifth inning. That was all the Wolfpack would need for the win. Tech attempted a comeback, but only managed to scratch across two runs before they ran out of innings to play.
Sunday, Tech nearly managed another win against the Wolfpack, after leading 5-3 entering the bottom of the eighth. However, their opponents refused to go down quietly, scorching Tech pitching to the tune of six runs. Though Tech attempted to come back, they mustered a single run in the top of the ninth, which wasn’t enough to overcome their deficit, and Tech lost the game and the series.
For more baseball coverage: Tech defeated no. 12 Auburn in style for Head Coach Danny Hall’s 1,000th win, yet fell to Mercer the next night.
This week: Tech hosts Georgia Southern in the midweek game and Miami for an ACC series once the weekend rolls around.
This Week on the Flats:
BOLD for home, REGULAR for away, ITALIC for time and location
Monday: OFF
Tuesday:
Baseball vs. Georgia Southern
6:00 PM, The Rusty C ACC Network Extra and WREK 91.1
Wednesday:
Softball vs. Georgia State
6:00 PM, Mewborn Field, ACC Network Extra
Thursday:
Track and Field @ Florida Relays
All day, Gainesville, FL
Men’s Tennis vs. VPISU
4:00 PM, Ken Byers Tennis Complex
Friday:
Track and Field @ Florida Relays
All day, Gainesville, FL
Track and Field @ Stanford Invitational
All day, Palo Alto, CA
Women’s Tennis vs. Notre Dame
3:00 PM, Ken Byers Tennis Complex
Softball vs. Florida State
6:00 PM, Mewborn Field, ACC Network Extra
Baseball vs. Miami
6:00 PM, The Rusty C, ACC Network Extra and WREK 91.1
Saturday:
Track and Field @ Florida Relays
All day, Gainesville, FL
Track and Field @ Stanford Invitational
All day, Palo Alto, CA
Volleyball vs. Auburn
11:15 AM, O’Keefe Gymnasium
Softball vs. Florida State
1:00 PM, Mewborn Field, ACC Network Extra
Volleyball vs. Florida
1:45 PM, O’Keefe Gymnasium
Baseball vs. Miami
4:00 PM, The Rusty C, ACC Network Extra and WREK 91.1
Volleyball vs. georgia
6:45 PM, O’Keefe Gymnasium
Sunday:
Women’s Tennis @ Syracuse
11:00 AM, Syracuse, NY
Softball vs. Florida State
1:00 PM, Mewborn Field, ACC Network Extra
Baseball vs. Miami
1:00 PM, The Rusty C, ACC Network Extra and WREK 91.1