Men's tennis team travels to Mexico to start season
The men's tennis team took to the road and travelled south of the border to Manzanillo, Mexico to open the 2006 season. The No. 30 ranked Jackets faced off against, among others, No. 19 California and No. 4 Illinois. The tournament featured intense matches between excellent players from schools throughout the United States. It also gave the Jackets a good chance to showcase their skills against non-conference opponents.
The tournament was held in a round-robin format where dual matches did not count, but individual results did count towards rankings. This type of format of play is referred to as a "hidden dual match."
On the first day of competition, only George Gvelesiani posted a win by beating Dean Wallace of California in straight sets 6-3, 6-4. The rest of the team, however, did not have a very strong showing. Sophomore David North, ranked No. 22 in the Fila Collegiate Tennis Rankings, fell to No. 99 Ryan Rowe from Illinois 6-2, 6-4.
Junior Zachary Rath was defeated by Eoin Heavey of California 6-3, 6-1, while sophomore Scott Blackmon lost a closer match to Pramod Dabir of Illinois 7-5, 6-3. Sophomore Jordan Delass was able to take his match to three sets but lost 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 to No. 55 Tyler Browne of California.
The lone senior for the Jackets, Marko Rajevac, fell in a very close match to No. 59 Ruben Gonzalez of Illinois 6-4, 5-7, 7-6.
The Tech team rebounded and performed better on day two. Gvelesiani won for the second time with a 7-5, 6-5 win over Brandon Davis of Illinois, and Rajevac pulled out a victory in two sets over California's John Pettit 7-6, 6-3.
The rest of the Jackets had similar results to the first day's action. Delass was swept in straight sets 6-0, 6-0 by Rowe of Illinois. Rath faired a little bit better, but also fell in straight sets to California's Ken Nakahara 6-2, 6-2, while North lost to No. 7 Ryler DeHeart of Illinois 6-3, 6-2.
Doubles play began on the second day with Gvelesiani and Delass pairing up to defeat the No. 26 team of Brandon Davis and Pramod Dabir of Illinois 8-6. The Jackets had a stronger showing in the doubles circuit. Rath and Blackmon lost to the excellent Fighting Illini pair of Ryan Rowe and Ryler DeHeart 8-4. The team of Rajevac and North lost to Ruben Gonzales and Kevin Anderson of Illinois 8-5.
On the last day of competition the team picked up just one win. Rath won his singles match by beating Brandon Davis of Illinois 6-2, 6-7, 6-2 to secure the team's only win that day. Gvelesiani finished the tournament with two wins and one loss when he fell to Dabir, 6-3, 6-2. Rajevac, despite his strong showing the day before, lost to DeHeart 6-2, 6-4.
Much like the first day of competition, Delass fell in a very close match to Illinois's Marc Spicijaric 5-7, 6-4, 7-6. In doubles action on the same day, Blackmon and Rath beat Spicijaric and Dabir of Illinois 8-5.
The other two doubles pairs lost, however. North and Rajevac lost to DeHeart and Ruben Gonzales 8-4; Delass and Gvelesiani could not win their second and lost to Heavey and Ken Nakahara of California in a close 9-7 match.
The next match for the Jackets is Feb. 8 when they host Furman. ACC play begins almost one month later when the Jackets host the Miami Hurricanes on March 5. Admission to all tennis matches on campus is free.
