The women’s tennis team came off of an impressive win over No. 11 Northwestern this past Saturday, bringing them to 3-3 on the season.  After losing doubles, Tech quickly recovered by winning five straight singles matches.  The comeback was led by outstanding play from Jeanette Lin and Valeriya Deminova.  

Jeanette Lin defeated No. 72 Julie Byrne in an impressive 7-5, 6-3 performance.  Taking a 3-0 lead in the second set, Lin’s quick start made for an easy finish.  Her win over Byrne not only secured the victory for Tech but topped off an already successful week, with Lin beating Georgia State 6-0, 6-2. 

Valeriya Deminova defeated Northwestern’s Caroline Pozo 6-2, 6-2 helping to build the Jackets’ comeback.  In the second set, Deminova led 4-0, giving up two games before sealing the match. 

The match continued a very good stretch of performances for Deminova, putting her at 4-0 on the week.  With a win in doubles and singles over Georgia State and a win in both over Northwestern, the freshman is currently sitting at 3-1 in singles and 4-2 in doubles. 

 These two stellar performances earned both ACC weekly honors, an impressive feat for such young talent. After all, Lin and Deminova are still freshmen and while both have significant international experience and were key reasons why Tech’s most recent recruiting class was ranked No. 6 nationally. It would not have been unexpected for them to start off slow in conference play. While the team still finds itself in the early goings and fatigue will no doubt set in, Lin and Deminova have shown exactly why Tech searched in Australia and Russia, respectively, to find them. 

Deminova’s background draws particular interest; before coming to Tech, she trained at the Spartak Tennis Club in Moscow, one of the most prestigious facilities in the country. She follows the same path as the likes of former professional star Anna Kournikova and former men’s world No. 1 Marat Safin. Also, she has played at the likes of Roland-Garros and the All-England Lawn Tennis Club, home to Wimbledon and French Open. Deminova is unlikely to find the college venues in which she now competes particularly intimidating, given her experience.

Tech is currently ranked No. 4 for the season and a win this weekend over No. 8 Georgia will push forward an already solid season.  Looking ahead, Tech is scheduled to play Pittsburgh next Sunday, then Duke and Syracuse on back to back road trips over the next two weeks. Conference play will continue until the region tournament, April 17.

As is true in many sports, the ACC brings Tech a tough schedule. Although the team ranks fourth in the country, two ACC teams are ahead of the Jackets: Duke and North Carolina. Miami, Florida State and Virginia are all top 25 teams at this point in the season, which means that all of those teams are capable of upending the Jackets on a good day. And as for the rest of the conference, they should not be disregarded either; the Jackets will need to maintain consistency throughout the season.

If Tech keeps up the sorts of results that it earned against Northwestern, the season could continue for a good while.

Tech beat the Syracuse Orange 73-59 in a one-sided thrashing on the road, knocking off the 11-5 Orange in front of a raucous Carrier Dome crowd. Jose Alvarado led the charge with 20 points, two assists and three rebounds.  Other notable performances included those of James Banks, Abdoulaye Gueye and Curtis Haywood II.  

The game started with Tech coming out hot, shooting over 50 percent from the field in the first half.  The Jackets improved even further on their most efficient shooting night of the year, averaging 68.2 percent shooting in the second half.  This performance was a huge improvement for Tech, whose offense ranks as on of the worst in the ACC.  More impressive still is that Tech’s stellar shooting night came against Syracuse’s elite zone defense, a signature of Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim.

Tech avoided one of their biggest weaknesses during the game by going for points in the paint and avoiding the three point line — Tech took just 12 three-pointer shots in the game. Instead, the Jackets focused on lobbing passes to their big men on the inside, where Evan Cole, Abdoulaye Gueye and James Banks III combined for 26 points. The strategy made for the best possible use of Tech’s possessions, something the team struggled with earlier in the season.

Tech’s defense was commanding during the game with the Jackets creating long scoring droughts for the Orange as the game progressed.  Forcing and capitalizing on turnovers, Tech grew their lead quickly at the start of the second half. Syracuse had 19 turnovers in the game while Tech capitalized with 17 points on turnovers.  While it helped that the Jackets’ shots were falling — Tech racked up 38 two-point makes — these turnovers gave Tech transition opportunities that turned a close win into a blowout. 

Looking forward, Tech is ranked tenth in the nation in defensive efficiency by KenPom.com — a strong showing for an otherwise inconsistent Tech team.  At times such as their win over Syracuse and even much of their close loss to Virginia Tech, Tech has looked very good.  At other times, they have lost at home to Gardner Webb.  In their big wins, Tech’s defensive switches from zone to man has caused confusion for their opponents.  

As Tech proceeds with ACC play, the Jackets’ next few opponents include Louisville, Notre Dame, Duke, UNC and Florida State — a difficult stretch, particularly the three games against Duke, UNC and Florida State. These opponents require the type of play Tech showed against Syracuse if the Jackets want to sustain their hot start to ACC play. Though, as Syracuse’s win against Duke and Wake Forest’s win against North Carolina State prove, there is at least some degree of parity in the ACC this season, which can play into the Jackets’ favor. With  enough effort on both sides of the ball, the Jackets have a solid chance at an upset in any of the games in that stretch.

In order to shock the ACC, it will require a strong effort on the part of Tech’s leading scorer, Jose Alvarado, who has averaged 13.9 points per game this season.  His scrappy play, effort and basketball IQ have cemented him as the keystone in Josh Pastner’s rotation. In addition to points and assists, he also leads the team in steals per game and is very good at creating turnovers and opportunities. Tech’s offense has also been greatly assisted from behind the arc by both Brandon Alston and Khalid Moore, both of whom are shooting over 40 percent from three, giving the Jackets threats from deep and complementing Alvarado and James Banks III as scoring threats in the paint.

With conference play underway, Tech looks to carry the momentum from an impressive Syracuse win with them as the road gets even tougher ahead for Alvarado, Banks and the rest of Tech’s young but battle-tested team. Such is life in the ACC.

Design by Lauren Douglas

Tech

This season has been an uphill battle for the Jackets, who have played to just a 2-3 record in the ACC and a 4-4 record overall, but Saturday offers an opportunity to build momentum down the stretch — Tech looks to have a real chance at a bowl-game bid after opening the season 1-3, possible with how explosive the offense has locked at times. Replicating their zero-turnover performance from last week will almost guarantee a win. 

Tar Heels

The Tar Heels enter this week trying to bounce back from 10-point loss to Virginia. With a struggling defense, a hurting offense and a losing record, UNC is vulnerable. The team is last in the ACC coastal, and in their last game, the Tar Heels gave up 425 total yards of offense. Offensively, they have struggled to open lanes in the running game, notching only 66 rush yards versus Virginia. If Tech can keep UNC one-dimensional, expect to see punter Tom Sheldon early and often.

The Tech women’s volleyball team lengthened their winning streak to eight games after sweeping the Hyatt Regency tournament, hosted at the team’s O’Keefe Gymnasium.  The team was led by first-year Mariana Brambilla, who was named both tournament MVP and ACC Co-Freshman of the Week.  The freshman standout recorded two double-doubles and currently leads the team in kills and service aces.  Her performance in the tournament helped cement Tech’s win with a career high 19 kills against South Alabama.  The game was closer than expected, with a large, loud crowd representing the visiting team from Mobile, a five-hour drive away.  However, Tech was able to overcome both the team and crowd and send the Jaguars’ fans home disappointed.

In their next game, Tulane took an early lead, but the Jackets were able to come back from a 14-7 deficit, finishing them in the third set 25-23.  Junior Lexi Dorn recorded 41 assists and 10 digs, contributing to Tech’s winning effort.  The volleyball team is off to a solid start this season and will get to test themselves against an undefeated Alabama this Friday.  With seven freshmen on the roster, the team has received a steady amount of praise from head coach Michelle Collier, who is surely excited to have such a young, capable squad.  The team is off to the best start to the season since 2016, when Tech secured a 20-win season and almost made it to the NCAA tournament.  They went 24-8, going 15-5 in the ACC.  The difference between then and now is that while the 2016 team was a mature unit stocked with experienced seniors, the current roster is the opposite.

There are two ways to view this situation: with optimism and concern. The first is obvious. With freshman such as Mariana Brambilla, Mikaila Dowd and Matti McKissock, it is difficult not to be excited for the future.  Dowd previously earned ACC Freshman of the Week, getting 50 kills in one weekend.  In her debut she got 22 kills against Idaho State.  McKissock has shown to be a very dependable setter.  An example of this can be seen in her 10 dig, 21 assist performance against Georgetown.

On the other hand, these talented players still lack valuable experience in conference play, and though they results have been excellent early, they will need guidance as the season wears on, the matches get tougher and fatigue grows.

The dynamic duo that is Lauren Frerking and Kodie Comby helps ensure that nothing is getting past the net.  With a combined 36 swats in their first tournament, look to them for experience and excellent defense this season. Tech will need it if it wants to launch a memorable campaign; they have the makings of just that.