MTennis to Host No. 63 Georgia Tech on Sunday
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – After dropping its conference opener on Friday, the No. 70 University of Miami men’s tennis team will continue its ACC slate with a match on Sunday, March 17 against No. 63 Georgia Tech at noon at the Neil Schiff Tennis Center.
Miami (9-5, 0-1 ACC) opened up ACC play at home on Friday when they battled No. 25 Clemson. After dropping the doubles point, the Hurricanes rallied back to tie the match at 3-3 but could not win a decisive court five singles match and were edged out 4-3 by the Tigers.
Head coach Mario Rincon expects his team’s match against Clemson to resemble the matches forthcoming in its tough ACC schedule.
“As we all know, the ACC is very competitive,” Rincon said after the match against Clemson. “It is competitive from top to bottom and anybody beats anybody. We are going to be right in there with many teams and hopefully we will do well.”
Against Clemson, it was business as usual for sophomore Wilfredo Gonzalez and junior Gabriel Flores as both players grabbed a team-leading 10 singles wins on the season with their victories on Friday. Gonzalez, playing at No. 3 singles, quickly defeated Clemson’s Gerardo Meza in straight sets, winning 6-2, 6-1. Minutes later, Flores was walking off the court with a convincing 6-1, 6-4 victory over Hunter Harrington at No. 2 singles.
Rounding out Miami’s scoring was Omar Aly as he outlasted Ayrton Wibowo in a long three set match. The junior right-hander dropped a 3-6 decision in the first set, before battling back to a 6-3 win in the second frame. Aly finished off Wibowo by blanking him 6-0 in the final set.
The No. 63 Yellow Jackets enter the weekend with a 7-7 overall record while being 0-1 in ACC play. Georgia Tech is coming off a loss in its conference opener, after No. 28 Florida State handed them a 4-3 defeat on Friday. Juan Melian has been the team’s primary singles player, winning 8 matches this season, including a victory over No. 89 Dominic Cotrone in his last action. In doubles, Vikram Hundal and Juan Spur lead the Yellow Jackets with a 7-2 record followed by Nathan Rakitt and Juan Melian with a 7-3 record.
“Georgia Tech is a good team as well,” Rincon said. “We know it is going to be a great challenge for us and we are looking forward to it.”
For more information on the University of Miami men’s tennis team, log on to HurricaneSports.com. To follow the UM men’s tennis team socially, visit Twitter.com/CanesMensTennis and facebook.com/MiamiHurricanesMensTennis.
