Georgia Tech men and women earn spots in NCAA tennis championships

Georgia Tech's women's tennis team at its 5-2 win over Duke at the Ken Byers Tennis Complex on March 12, 2021. (Danny Karnik/Georgia Tech Athletics)

Credit: Danny Karnik

Credit: Danny Karnik

Georgia Tech's women's tennis team at its 5-2 win over Duke at the Ken Byers Tennis Complex on March 12, 2021. (Danny Karnik/Georgia Tech Athletics)

Georgia Tech’s men’s and women’s tennis teams earned invitations to their respective NCAA Tournaments on Monday night, the women for the 22nd consecutive time.

Coach Rodney Harmon’s team also earned a No. 13 overall seed and will have hosting duties for first- and second-round matches that will take place Friday and Saturday at the Ken Byers Tennis Complex. Tech (18-10) will play Georgia Southern (19-8), which will be playing in its first NCAA Tournament after winning its first Sun Belt Tournament. The winner will play the winner of the North Florida-Ole Miss winner in the second round.

The men’s team is in the 64-team field for the first time since 2017 and 17th time overall, with a record of 13-9. Coach Kenny Thorne has overseen 13 of the Yellow Jackets’ NCAA appearances.

Tech will face Memphis (9-8) in its first-round match, to be played at No. 3 Tennessee, which will be the host for first- and second-round matches. The Volunteers will face Alabama A&M. The matches will be played Saturday and Sunday.

Tech was one of 16 schools to earn spots in both the men’s and women’s tournaments. Four are from the ACC (Duke, Miami and North Carolina were the others).

Teams winning their second-round matches advance to the 16-team national championship, to be played in Orlando, Fla., on May 17-28.

The draw for the singles and doubles tournaments will be announced Tuesday. The women’s doubles team of Victoria Flores and Kenya Jones is ranked No. 2 by the ITA with a record of 22-3.

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