A special shoutout, and other news, here in another busy spring edition of the Yellow Jacket roundup.
From Elsewhere on the Flats:
Understandably, as a club swimmer that lives with a pair of club lacrosse players, Georgia Tech competitive club sports are a dominant force in my day-to-day life. Recently, there’s been quite a bit of good news out of the club sports office, so here’s a quick update with three notable national-caliber teams before we get back to our regularly scheduled programming:
- Club Hockey reached their first American Collegiate Hockey Association nationals in a decade, falling in three pool play games, and ending up 18-9-0-1 on the season. The year, which featured two wins over rival Clemson, and one over Auburn, was a step in the right direction. They look to build on this year’s run with another strong season next year.
- Under the shade of their new jumbotron, club lacrosse is putting together a fine season for themselves, as well. They clinched a spot in the Southeastern Lacrosse Conference tournament in two weeks with a 13-6 win over Auburn. in the meantime, a faceoff against the School out East looms with a regional title and #1 seed on the line headed into championship season.
- Last, and certainly not least, the Georgia Tech Swim Club was crowned national champions this weekend at the Collegiate Club Swimming & Diving National Championships, hosted by Tech at the McAuley Aquatic Center. The meet, featuring almost 2200 swimmers from 116 schools around the country, saw Tech steamroll Kentucky, North Carolina, Ohio State, and defending champion Virginia on the way to the team title. The men took third, while the women cleared the field by almost 200 points to do their part for the team’s win. Tech’s Lindsay Knapp, Makenna Laffey, Rebecca Durham, Ally Nastasi, Ellie Ridgeway, Olivia Fassett, Abbie Cochell, Michael Quillen, Mathias Zacarias, Derek Wu, and Brian Woodbury combined for 11 individual and relay national titles, and the aforementioned swimmers, along with yours truly, added 8 more silver and bronze podium finishes on their way to the national championship.
No. 3 Men’s Golf
Tech slogged through the weather to a mildly disappointing third place finish for the no. 3/no. 4 Jackets. Though the weather was poor, the weather was poor for everyone, and in the end, Clemson and North Florida took advantage of it. The Jackets’ highest placing individuals were Chris Petefish and Jacob Joiner in a tie for twelfth overall. The Jackets will be back in action, and hopefully tuned up and ready to go, for the ACC championships in a little over a week.
This week: Men’s golf has an off week.
No. 4 Women’s Tennis
The Tech women got back to their winning ways, upsetting no. 3 Duke at home on Friday night. Tech won two doubles games in tiebreakers to win the doubles point. Ida Jarlskog and Victoria Flores upset Duke’s nationally ranked no. 5 tandem, while Paige Hourigan and Kenya Jones did their work on court 1 to take the point. Meanwhile, Tech won the requisite three singles games, with Flores, Nami Otsuka, and Hourigan seizing wins, and Tech had its slim but deciding margin of victory.
Later in the weekend, Tech hosted no. 27 Wake Forest, and cruised to a comfortable 6-1 victory against the Demon Deacons. Johnnise Renaud/Nami Otsuka and Hourigan/Jones both took early sets to take the doubles point first for Tech. In singles, the Jackets took care of business, winning 5 of 6 matches. Otsuka tore through her match, a clean sweep of both sets, while Renaud, Jarlskog, and Jones each won on their courts. Only Hourigan saw a loss on the day, falling in tiebreakers before Flores finished up the win with another point for the Jackets.
This Week: Women’s tennis takes a jaunt through the northeast, joining a caravan of Jackets in Pittsburgh (Jacket fans in the Steel City are in for a real treat this weekend) before heading to Boston.
Softball
Wednesday, April 4th: No. 5 georgia (33-4) narrowly escapes Tech (19-16), 1-0.
Friday, April 6th: Duke (20-18) edges Tech (19-17), 2-1.
Friday, April 6th: Georgia Tech (20-17) gets vengeance against Duke (20-19), 4-3.
Sunday, April 8th: Georgia Tech (21-17) beats Duke (20-20), 5-3.
- In front of the most crowded this intrepid Tech softball reporter has ever seen Shirley Clements Mewborn Field, Tech again held their own against a highly-ranked, top 10 program. Though of course every team would love to win close games like this, and tech has lost more than their fair share, holding their own against a solid team is more than anyone could’ve predicted after the past few years in the wilderness. A solo home run was all the best offense in the country managed against starter Emily Anderson.
- Tech again lost a squeaker to Duke. Though they took an early 1-0 lead off a solo home run by Crosby Huckabay, they gave the run right back in the bottom of the second. The game stayed even into extra inning, when Duke put one across in the bottom of the eighth to take the first game of the series.
- The turnaround of Tech softball hit yet another milestone on Friday, as Tech won their 20th game, passing last year’s margin with a fair bit of the season left to play. Suffice it to say new head coach Aileen Morales has done fine work in her first season on the Flats. The Jackets got elusive win number 20 the hard way, spotting Duke a three run lead, before Draven Sonnen put Tech on the board with a home run, before Tech loaded the bases. Freshman Breanna Roper laced a two run single into center, tying the game. The margin was provided by Cameron Stanford home run, making the final score 4-3, and giving the Jackets a satisfying and tidy comeback win.
- The Jackets won their third ACC series of the season with the win on Sunday. Kelsey Chisholm started the Jackets off with yet another solo home run. Tech added three more with two outs, with an RBI single by Katie Krzus and a pair of runs scoring on a hard hit by Lily Hooper misplayed by the third baseman. Tech gave one run back, but Kaylee Ellebracht added an insurance run with a solo home run of her own, and, though the Jackets allowed two more, the five runs scoring stood up and the Jackets had a nice series win.
This Week: Tech plays four on the road, at Kennesaw and joining women’s tennis and baseball in Pittsburgh over the weekend.
Track and Field
This weekend’s meet in Athens was pretty good for the Jackets. Shannon Innis started the weekend well for the Jackets, placing second in the 400m hurdles, while three men placed in the top ten in the 1500m and Anthony Steets placed second in the men’s hurdles as well. On the second day of competition, Kendria Edouard and Brittany Powell placed in the top ten in the 800m and three Jackets placed in the top 10 in the 400m. Pharist O’Neal added two top ten finishes of her own in the short distances, while the men sent a handful of contenders to the top ten on the day.
This Week: Tech heads the opposite way out of town to the other nearby SEC foe on the Plains this weekend.
Men’s Tennis
Tech dropped a pair of 5-2 decisions on the road in North Carolina this weekend, to no. 25 North Carolina State and no. 1 Wake Forest. Chris Yun and Phillip Gresk pulled out wins in against the Wolfpack, while Michael Kay lost an incredibly tough match in the third set. Against the top ranked Demon Deacons, Yun, who has been on an absolute tear of late, won yet again, joined by Elijah Melendez, snapping a recent funk. The Jackets, who fell to 5-12 on the season and 1-6 in the conference after the weekend, have lost a lot of close matches this season and look to keep composure against some tough breaks.
This Week: Tech heads back to the Research Triangle to pay a visit to Duke and North Carolina this weekend.
Volleyball
Again, results from spring competition are unknown, but the Jackets played Clemson this week in some spring volleyball action.
This Week: Tech will play at Tennessee-Chattanooga Sunday to close out the spring slate.
Baseball
For baseball coverage: Tech’s bats fell silent against the school in Athens Tuesday night, their fourth loss in the past four tries to said school. However, things turned around for the Jackets over the weekend, as they hosted, and beat, no. 6 Florida State twice in three tries and enter the upcoming busy week on a two game hot streak.
This week: Tech has two weekday games, against Mercer and Georgia state, before hitting the road to visit the Pittsburgh Panthers over the weekend.
This Week on the Flats:
BOLD for home, REGULAR for away, ITALIC for time and location
Monday: OFF
Tuesday:
Baseball @ Mercer
6:00 PM, Macon, GA, ESPN3 and WREK 91.1
Wednesday:
Baseball vs. Georgia State
6:00 PM, The Rusty C, ACC Network Plus and WREK 91.1
Softball vs. Kennesaw State
6:00 PM, Kennesaw, GA
Thursday: OFF
Friday:
Track and Field @ Tiger Track Classic
All day, Auburn, AL
Women’s Tennis @ Pittsburgh
4:00 PM, Pittsburgh, PA
Softball @ Pittsburgh
5:00 PM, Pittsburgh, PA
Baseball @ Pittsburgh
6:00 PM, Pittsburgh, PA, WREK 91.1
Saturday:
Track and Field @ Tiger Track Classic
All day, Auburn, AL
Men’s Tennis @ North Carolina
12:00 PM, Chapel Hill, NC
Softball @ Pittsburgh
1:00 PM, Pittsburgh, PA
Baseball @ Pittsburgh
3:00 PM, Pittsburgh, PA, WREK 91.1
Sunday:
Women’s Tennis @ Boston College
11:00 AM, Boston, MA
Men’s Tennis @ Duke
12:00 PM, Durham, NC
Softball @ Pittsburgh
12:00 PM, Pittsburgh, PA
Baseball @ Pittsburgh
1:00 PM, Pittsburgh, PA, WREK 91.1