Georgia Tech's men's tennis team on Thursday will take the first step in an attempt to do something it has never done: win the ACC tournament.
It won't be easy.
Though the Yellow Jackets (17-4, 8-3) are ranked 16th in the nation, such is the depth of the conference that they are the fifth seed in the tournament. They will open play against 12th-seeded Boston College at 9 a.m. at the tournament in Cary, N.C.
Coach Kenny Thorne and top player Guillermo Gomez like how the Jackets are playing. They have won seven of their past nine dual matches, dropping the regular-season finale to top-ranked Virginia 6-1 in Charlottesville.
"I don't think we have to play any better," Thorne said. "I've told the guys that we need just a few points, five to six points, in a few of the team matches in order to get by. In the tournament, if you are winning those matches, there's not a big difference in those teams."
If Tech can get those points and win the tournament, it would be a culmination of Thorne's efforts to restore the team to the level he enjoyed as a player in the late 1980s. Thorne and the Jackets finished atop the ACC in the 1988 regular season, but the conference champion was determined in the tournament. Tech lost in the finals, which it has done three more times since then. Thorne moved on and enjoyed a solid pro career before returning to Tech as an assistant coach. He was promoted to head coach in 1998.
The Jackets have reached the NCAA tournament nine times since then and this year's team, which is built around Gomez, should make it No. 10. A senior, Gomez recently broke Thorne's record for career wins (112), stretching the mark to 114.
Thorne said there's really no comparison between him and Gomez because the Spaniard has played No. 1 for Tech for most of his career, competing against the best collegiate tennis has to offer. He said Gomez is clearly the best player in Tech's history.
"Guillermo goes into every match, he's going to refuse to lose," Thorne said. "It doesn't matter who we are playing, how good or low ranked the team is. He's going to bring the fire that this team needs. To have that at No. 1 is very important. That sends a message to all the other teams. We're not hoping to compete with you, we are hoping to beat you."
Gomez said he's learned plenty during his time at Tech, notably what Thorne recognized: he has to compete on every point. He said he lost a lot of matches early in his career simply because he didn't play as hard as he could have. But then, he's lost so few -- 37 in singles -- it wouldn't be hard for some of them to stand out.
Individually, Gomez has twice won the Southern Intercollegiate Championship and been selected to play in the NCAA men singles championship each year. He's currently No. 14 in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association singles rankings. The NCAA's singles and doubles tournament field will be announced May 4.
But he said this year is about team goals. He wants to win the conference championship. He wants Tech tennis to become something more.
"The ACC is the first step to winning something bigger," he said.
ACC Men's Tennis
When: Thursday-Sunday
Where: Cary, N.C.
Schedule: Tech will play Boston College at 9 a.m. Thursday. The Jackets defeated the Eagles 7-0 in their previous meeting this season. The winner will play Miami at 9 a.m. Friday.
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