What you need to know:
*The men's tennis team sits at 5-3 with a No. 63 national ITA ranking.
*The team will be at home next weekend for a two-game home-stand.
*The Panthers will host ETSU on Feb. 26 and Winthop on Feb. 27.
ATLANTA- Following two impressive road performances over the weekend, the Georgia State men's tennis team earned a No. 63 national ranking from the ITA on Tuesday. This is the first time that the program has been ranked since 2014 and the first ranking under head coach Brett Ross.
The Panthers are currently 5-3, having faced four ranked opponents in their first eight matches. The last win for the Panthers came against No. 65 Wichita State, with the clinching-point coming from Jannis Koeke. Also on the road trip, Georgia State suffered a close 4-3 loss at No. 15 Oklahoma State, showing much improvement since the 6-1 loss at No. 44 Georgia Tech earlier this year.
Led behind juniors Zackery Kennedy and Koeke, GSU's only losses have come against ranked teams. Kennedy has gone 3-1 against ranked players in the past two matches, with an overall competition record of 8-4. Koeke went 3-1 last weekend and is 9-7 overall.
Felipe Jaworski and Andrei Andrukhou have been pivotal to the program as well, with both players having a match-clinching point this season.
“Earning the ranking definitely shows how far the program has come, but I feel like this is just a start for this team,” Ross said. “We have a really talented core group that has the potential to do great things in the next few years.”
GSU returns to the court on Feb. 26 at Dunwoody Country Club against ETSU at 3 p.m. and Feb. 27 at Piedmont Park against Winthrop at 11 a.m. Live stats for both matches will be available at GeorgiaStateSports.com.
