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ATLANTA, GEORGIA — I’ll keep the introduction short this week, since it is yet another lengthy list of sports on tap across the Georgia Tech landscape. There were eight Tech varsity sports in action, along with at least three club sports, so we’ll get right to it.
#25 Women’s Tennis:
Tech eases to a 6-1 win at Illinois
Tech rallies after dropping the doubles point to defeat Northwestern 5-2
The Jackets headed to Illinois to play both the state’s Big Ten team, as well as Chicago’s Big Ten team™. They started things off right in Champaign with a doubles point, despite Carol Lee and Kate Sharabura falling 6-1 on court one to Kate Duong and Megan Heuser. On the other courts, Kylie Bilchev and Alejandra Cruz notched a 6-4 win over Emily Casati and Josie Frazier and Rosie Garcia Gross and Mahak Jain snuck past Violeta Martinez and Ashley Yeah 7-6 (9-7) in tiebreak. Tech’s ranked players kept up their end of the bargain in singles, with Lee, Bilchev, Jain, and Cruz all taking home wins, with Bilchev upsetting no. 70 Ashley Yeah in three sets. Illinois’ sole point came on court five, as Garcia Gross dropped a tough three setter to Kaisa Treiber, but Tech rounded things off with a three set Sharabura win on court six to solidify the 6-1 margin.
In Evanston on Sunday, Tech dropped the doubles point to start the match, with Garcia Gross and Jain falling to Kiley Rabjohns and Maria Shusharina, 6-2, and Bilchev and Cruz dropping their set 6-4 to Christina Hand and Justine Leong. Jain put Tech right back into the match in singles, winning 6-4, 6-2, while Sharabura added a three set 6-1, 3-6, 6-0 win over Rabjohns to give Tech a lead they would not relinquish. Cruz added a 6-3, 6-3 win over Pratt, while Lee wrapped things up on court one with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Shusharina.
Tech is at rest next weekend.
Men’s Tennis:
Tech defeats State, 6-1
Tech falls to Auburn, 5-2
The Jackets opened up their weekend by hosting the boys from Downtown on Friday evening. Coming into the match, State was 0-3, though every year, they always seem to play pretty well against Tech, for whatever reason. Tech started things off with a mixed bag in doubles, taking the doubles point thanks to Andres Martin and Marcus McDaniel’s 7-6 (7-2) win over Roberts Grinvalds and Gabriele Datei and Brandon McKinney and Robert Bauer’s 7-5 win over Edward Tymes and Ricardo Batista, while Elias Shokry and Keshav Chopra fell 6-1 to Diogo Morais and Diego Padilha. This, somewhat frankly, is not the result one would want to see against a winless Sun Belt squad, though it is good to at least get the doubles point, regardless of the rockiness. In singles play, Martin and McDaniel kept their momentum going with two quick points as Martin defeated Grinvalds 6-0, 6-2 and McDaniel beat Padhila 6-3, 6-3. State got on the board with Tymes’ two set win over McKinney on court five, but a three set, 6-4, 5-7, 6-3, win for Sachdev over Morais on court four would be all Tech needed to seal the match in their favor.
On Sunday, the men hit the road for a matinee at Auburn, and things got off to a rockier start on the other side of the state line. In the doubles point, Tech just narrowly missed out on taking the first point, splitting the doubles on courts one and three with a lopsided win and loss, respectively, before dropping a 7-6 decision on court two. In singles play, Tech notched a point before the match was decided, with Martin defeating Tyler Stice 6-2, 6-1 while Sachdev, Shokry, and Bauer all fell in two sets on the bottom three courts.
Tech is next in action at home this weekend, hosting South Carolina, Georgia, and the Citadel.
#22/NR Swimming and Diving:
Not much doing for Tech on the weekend, as the Auburn Invitational had a number of ranked teams, including the two noted teams, along with Florida, Louisiana State, Florida State, and Emory. However, as is typical, most of the tops of the lineups for all teams sat this weekend out due to the impending conference championships. Tech had no top finishes and we wait for ACCs in Greensboro in about a week.
Track and Field:
Tech headed east on I-20 this weekend, running in Columbia at South Carolina’s two day invitational. There were a number of schools, professional runners, and national team members at the meet, making for an interesting and crowded field. Of the two days, Saturday was likely the more generally successful of the two, with a number of top three finishers. Much like last week, their field events were the standouts on the second day, and the collection of top finishes were entirely consisted of field events. Familiar names Shanty Papakosta and Jamir Gibson finished second in the shot put and high jump, respectively, with marks of 18.66 meters (61-2.75) and 1.73 meters (5-8), along with Omar Arnaout adding a second place finish in the high jump, leaping 2.00 meters (6-6.75). I belive this is Arnaout’s first mention in the column, so congrats to him. Additionally, Taylor Grimes placed third in the women’s long jump with a distance of 5.94m (19-6).
Friday saw just a trio of top three finishes, and they all came in the distance running events. Two of these were third place finishes, with Katie Hamfeldt running a 10:14.25 in the 3000 meter and Leif Andersen posting a 4:07.55 in the mile, but the highlight of the day — and weekend — was Charlie Smith’s win in that very same event. Smith finished the event in a 4:06.39, and brought home Tech’s best finish on the weekend.
The Jackets will split their squad between — you guessed it — Clemson and Nashville next weekend for the Tiger Paw Invite and Music City Challenge.
Women’s Basketball:
Tech (12-10, 3-8 ACC) NC State (16-6, 6-5 ACC)
Tech (12-11, 3-9 ACC) Miami (15-8, 8-4 ACC)
With it being another long week for Tech sports, I’ll leave the women’s basketball talk to Jack and Maggie for this week’s coverage. Between the two of them, they were at the NC State game and watching Miami live, and though the results were a 1-1 split, I am certain both would agree with my sentiment that, from a Thursday TV watcher and Sunday post-church scoreboard watcher’s perspective, the team is certainly better than it was about a month ago. It is frustrating to drop the Miami game, given the competitiveness — Tech was down two with a minute to play — but they fought hard, nonetheless.
Tech’s win over NC State is certainly their best and highest-ranked of the year, and the Jackets are still in a place where a WNIT tournament run is on the table, and if things broke perfectly, perhaps even the most fringe of bubble conversation. They would just need to take the lessons from the Miami game — effectiveness in the paint and on the glass — and be nearly perfect the rest of the way.
In the Club House:
Men’s lacrosse got the season started right in Auburn this weekend, as the preseason #2 team headed to the Plains for a Friday night showdown. Tech started the season in a hole, dropping the first goal to the Tigers early in the first, though they were able to even the score shortly after. Auburn lead by as many as three goals in the first half, with their 6-3 margin proving the largest lead the hosts would manage on the evening. Tech would regain the initiative after this point, though, and would mount a three goal lead of their own in the second half, which would prove to be the game’s ultimate margin at 13-10. Tech played another game Sunday, and given the current margin, I feel relatively comfortable in notching it up as a win. With four minutes left in the third quarter, Tech leads Vanderbilt 14-2 in their home opener, and it would be quite remarkable if this score did not hold in some form or fashion.
As for swimming and hockey, swimming was in Knoxville visiting Tennessee and their invitational this weekend, but the results have yet to be posted in a place where yours truly can check them. Hockey, meanwhile, headed east to Athens for their sort-of-outdoors game against the Athenians. Though Tech scored first in the first period, that would be all they managed through the rest of the game, while their iciest rivals managed an answer and a decisive score to send the game to its final at 2-1.
Over the Airwaves:
No new Scions of the Southland episode since the last Yellow Jacket Roundup came out midweek. Check out the feed by clicking here.
This Week:
Men’s Tennis:
2/10 — South Carolina [5:00 PM, Stream - Live Feed at RamblinWreck.com]
2/12 — Georgia [12:00 PM, Stream - Live Feed at RamblinWreck.com]
2/12 — The Citadel [4:00 PM, Stream - Live Feed at RamblinWreck.com]
Track and Field:
2/10-11 — Tiger Paw Invite (Clemson, SC) [All Day]
2/10-11 — Music City Challenge (Vanderbilt, TN) [All Day]
Softball:
2/10 — UConn (Buzz Classic) [4:30 PM and 7:00 PM, ACC Network Extra]
2/11 — RV North Texas (Buzz Classic) [4:30 PM, ACC Network Extra]
2/11 — Saint Francis (Buzz Classic) [7:00 PM, ACC Network Extra]
2/12 — Illinois-Chicago (Buzz Classic) [11:30 AM, ACC Network Extra]
2/12 — RV North Texas (Buzz Classic) [2:00 PM, ACC Network Extra]
Golf:
2/8-10 — Amer Ari Intercollegiate (Hapuna Golf Course, Waimea, HI) [All Day]
Women’s Basketball:
2/9 — at Clemson [8:00 PM, RSNs - Bally Sports South (Atlanta)]
2/12 — Pittsburgh [2:00 PM, ACC Network Extra]
Men’s Basketball:
2/8 — Notre Dame [7:00 PM, RSNs - Bally Sports South (Atlanta)]
2/11 — at Wake Forest [5:00 PM, ACC Network]
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