Yellow Jacket Roundup: Late Tennis Edition

ATLANTA, GEORGIA — As tends to happen around this time of year, the schedules for various sports have decided to not cooperate and all fall out of line from the tidy Sunday week-ending slate. With men’s tennis in action through Monday, it’s a late edition of the column, with a bevy of news from the seven or eight programs in action this week amongst the group of varsity and club sports that ordinarily fall into this column’s purview.

---

#25 Women’s Tennis:

San Diego slices through Tech, 4-1
Tech bounces back with a Princeton sweep, 4-0

Both the men and the women were in the Bay Area for ITA Kickoff Weekend, which is a generally somewhat bizarre event wherein teams draft into their desired regionals. Tech has frequently been a host on the women’s side in recent years, and it is a little odd to see them in the position of being a 2 seed and needing to head somewhere for assignment. For their draw, they elected to travel to Berkeley, with San Diego and Princeton following hot on their heels as the 3 and 4 seeds. Tech drew San Diego to start the weekend.

In doubles, things went San Diego’s way early, as Carol Lee and Kate Sharabura were defeated by Kailey Evans and Elizabeth Goldsmith, 6-4, shortly after Kylie Bilchev and Alejandra Cruz had dispatched Solymar Colling and Abigail Desiatnikov, 6-2. Things came down to court three to decide the doubles, and things turned Torrero in the end as Mahak Jain and Ruth Marsh dropped a 6-4 set to Claudia De Las Heras and Jordyn McBride. San Diego added a point quickly in singles to make the margin 2-0 as Rosie Garcia Gross fell to Goldsmith 6-1, 6-2. Tech got a point right back on court one as Lee, the No. 10 player in the country, sailed past Colling 6-4, 6-2. Unfortunately, that would be it for Tech, as despite leading on the last two courts when play was suspended, as another two singles went the way of San Diego. Jain fell to Desiatnikov 7-5, 6-0 and Marsh was handled by Evans, 6-3, 6-2, with San Diego making the unconventional choice to play their second-highest ranked singles player on court six.

In the consolation match, Tech was paired with Princeton, and the Jackets made it the quickest work of any of the weekend’s sporting events, sweeping through at 4-0. In doubles, Lee and Sharabura locked down court one with a 6-0 win over Daria Frayman and Neha Velaga, while Garcia Gross and Ava Hrastar followed that up with a 6-3 win over Leena Bennetto and Zoe Howard on court three to take the point.

Sadly, Tech played a little too fast, and the good fans of Tech tennis were unable to see the results of Princeton’s Frayman, the country’s fourth ranked player, versus Lee, as the two were knotted at a set apiece when play ceased. That result came quickly on the hands of two set victories on courts three, two, and four, as Jain knocked off Howard, 6-3, 6-2, Bilchev beat Velaga 6-3, 7-5, and Hrastar defeated Bennetto, 7-6 (3), 6-3. It is particularly interesting to see Hrastar, long a starting stalwart, out of the lineup on Friday but back on Saturday, and my intuition is that this deep lineup will likely not solidify completely for a few weeks. This will be something to keep an eye on as the season develops.

Tech heads to the great state of Illinois this week to visit the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Evanston’s finest university, Northwestern, two tennis stalwarts in the Big Ten. One day, I believe, Tech will line up a sports trip with one of my trips back to Chicago. This is not that week.

Men’s Tennis:

Tech loses a heartbreaker to Stanford, 4-3
Pepperdine defeats Tech 4-1 in consolation match

This team is probably Tech’s highest variance sport this athletic year, and they certainly showed the peak of that on Sunday as they took on Stanford. Tech drafted into a relatively favorable region in terms of top tier talent, as the #18 Cardinal would not ordinarily be expected to host when there are only 15 sites. However, it seems Pepperdine and Texas A&M, ranked #20 and RV respectively coming into the weekend, had the same idea, as Tech wound up the #4 seed in the region.

In the first match, Tech took things to the wire against the hosts, but, in the end, it wasn’t quite enough. The Racquet Jackets started things off right in doubles, with Andres Martin and Marcus McDaniel edging out Arthur Fery and Filip Kolasinski, 6-4, and Keshav Chopra and Elias Shokry dispatching Samir Banerjee and Max Basing, 6-3. On court three, Rohan Sachdev and Brandon McKinney fell to Nishesh Basavareddy and Neel Rajesh, 6-1. Tech’s two singles wins came in two sets, as Chopra knocked off Basavareddy and Sachdev bested Banerjee each by 6-3, 6-2 margins. Things were tougher on both the top and bottom courts, as Martin, McDaniel, and McKinney each fell in two sets, while Shokry held out to the end before ultimately falling in a tough 6-7 [2-7], 6-1, 6-3 three setter.

In the consolation match, Tech was lineup up with the aforementioned Pepperdine Waves, who fell to Texas A&M in the first round of competition. Apologies on the lack of first names on this one, as Tech’s recap didn’t have first names or a box score, while the Stanford site has since pulled down the results.

In doubles, Tech yielded the point, as Pepperdine’s Vasa and Homberg cruised past Chopra and Shokry by a 6-2 margin, while a similar 6-3 decision befell McKinney and Sachdev at the hands of Fellin and Hadigian. Andres Martin bounced back to win his singles court over DeJonge, 6-3, 6-2, tying the match at one, but it would be three straight for the Waves that would send Tech home empty-handed. Sachdev fell in two sets to Homberg, 6-1, 7-5, and Robert Bauer was dispatched, 6-2, 6-4, by Fellin, while Chopra lasted three sets before succumbing to Vasa, 6-1, 2-6, 6-3. McDaniel and Shokry were in competitive third sets when the match was suspended.

Tech heads back to the Southeast for a pair of matches this weekend, with the first coming against Georgia State on the Flats and the later on the road at Auburn.

#22/NR Swimming and Diving:

Swimming defeats Carson Newman 183-77 (M) & 187.5-72.5 (W)
Swimming defeats Gardner-Webb 190-69 (M) & 181-75 (W)
Diving falls to Miami, Auburn, and Florida State

Other than Saturday being Senior Day, there really wasn’t much to write home about, other than Tech managing to win all but three events over the two meets on the swimming side. Among the opponents, neither are particularly daunting, as Carson Newman is a Division II school, while Gardner-Webb is a low major, but one which should be commended for continuing the upkeep of both men’s and women’s swimming at a time when it is popular to cut one or the other.

In the diving well, Auburn and Florida State brought both their men and women’s teams, with the Miami men joining as well, as their women were presumably competing with the women’s swim team somewhere for the weekend.

No diving Zone or swimming National Championship Cuts were recorded during competition on the weekend. Tech heads to Auburn this weekend for the last invitational of the regular season, with the ACC Championships next on deck in Greensboro starting on Valentine’s Day.

Track and Field:

Tech once again headed up north on Interstate 85 (or the Amtrak Crescent, for the train travelers) to visit Clemson’s indoor facility, as they are prone to do during the winter season. Tech had a handful of notable finishes on the weekend, which was especially impressive given the rather crowded field of schools at the invite for the weekend. On Friday, the first day of competition, Tech had two podium finishes, coincidentally both coming in the distance medley relay. On the men’s side, the team consisted of Joshua Williams, Parker Buchheit, Jeremiah LaDuca and Nick Nyman, while the women included, Riley Perlakowski, Ilene Soleyn, Kayla Rose and Helena Lindsay in their entry. The teams finished with times of 9:50.80 and 11:34.03, respectively, with the event consisting of sequential 1200 meter, 400 meter, 800 meter, and 1600 meter legs.

In the second and final day of competition, Tech’s two top finishers were competing in two different events, this time both coming from the field events. In the men’s triple jump, John Watkins placed second, leaping 15.33 meters, while Shanty Papakosta in her typical high jump placed third thanks to a 1.78 meter leap.

Tech is back in action this weekend, against making the trip over to South Carolina, though this time headed to the state’s eponymous university in Columbia.

Women’s Basketball:

Tech (11-10, 2-8 ACC) dispatches Clemson (-, - ACC)

Just one game on the docket for Tech this week, as they hosted Clemson before getting a weekend to rest and recuperate. Unlike past women’s basketball coverage shoutouts, this week’s feature comes from Maggie Doster, one of the staff covering the team this year, alongside Jack and myself.

To avoid restating the great coverage there, I’ll add just a bit of color on the historical matchup results, which generally favor Tech over the past few years. I’m actively working to bring the rest of the results outside of the limited sample of only conference games in the past seven seasons into the digitized fold, but for now, the table and plot below detail the recent matchups between the schools:

Analysis by Jake Grant, data via the ACC and RamblinWreck.com.

Tech is next in action against #15 NC State on Thursday at home. The game is also available on ACC Network.

---

In the Club House:

It was a simple week for Tech hockey this week, the primary club sport in action. The Jackets headed up to visit the Tennessee Volunteers in Knoxville, splitting the two game set. Tech fell 4-2 in the first game, with goals coming from Maksim Tochilkin and Andrew Bohner each keeping Tech within one score before a third period goal from the hosts put the first game away.

As for the Saturday afternoon rematch, Tech put together perhaps their strongest offensive performance of the past few weeks with a 6-3 bounce-back win. Tech’s all-time leader started things off right in the first, with the Matthew Connelly goal eventually equalized before the first intermission. John McEvilly scored twice in the second after a quick Tennessee goal had put them ahead immediately out of the break before a third goal from him early in the third made it a hat trick and ultimately proved to be the game winner. Tech found two more from Kyung Min Kim and Tochilkin, respectively, with Tennessee only able to muster one goal as time wound down.

Tech hockey is in action this week in Athens at the limited capacity outdoor game, while swimming heads to Knoxville for the first invite of their spring season. Meanwhile, men’s lacrosse kicks off their season with a Friday game at Auburn before returning home to host Vanderbilt on Sunday. They kick off the season ranked second in the MCLA poll, and their coverage on the preseason poll indicates that they will play every other team currently in the top 6 during the season.

Over the Airwaves:

Last week on Scions of the Southland, Jack, Akshay, and I were joined by Asa to discuss the state of men’s basketball. We also took a look at the latest from the women, who went 1-0 on the week, alongside some tennis chat before discussing the ACC football schedule release. In the next few weeks, keep an eye out for Softball and Baseball previews, where we’ll meet with Georgia Tech Softball Head Coach Aileen Morales as well as three upperclassmen veterans of the baseball team.

This Week:

Swimming and Diving:

2/3-4 — Auburn Invite (Auburn, AL) [All Day]

Track and Field:

2/3-4 — South Carolina Invite (Columbia, SC) [All Day]

Women’s Tennis:

2/3 — at Illinois [5:00 PM]
2/5 — at Northwestern [1:00 PM]

Men’s Tennis:

2/3 — Georgia State [5:00 PM, Stream - Live Feed at RamblinWreck.com]
2/5 — at Auburn [12:00 PM]

Women’s Basketball:

2/2 — #15 NC State [8:00 PM, ACC Network]
2/5 — at Miami [12:00 PM, ACC Network]

Men’s Basketball:

2/1 — at Louisville [7:00 PM, RSNs - Bally Sports South (Atlanta)]
2/4 — at NC State [1:00 PM, ACC Network]

---

For Football Coverage:

CLICK HERE

For Basketball Coverage:

CLICK HERE

For Baseball Coverage:

CLICK HERE