What You Need to Know
- The Panthers climbed to No. 43 in the most recent Oracle/ITA rankings.
- GSU went 1-1 last weekend versus Florida Gulf Coast and Tennessee. The Panthers took down FGCU 4-3 and dropped a 2-5 decision to UT.
- Linn Timmermann defeated a nationally ranked player for the second time last weekend and will face off against No. 48 Kanika Vaidya of No. 50 Columbia on Friday.
- Columbia (7-3) is on a three match win streak and jumped to No. ??!? in the most recent ITA Rankings. Princeton (5-6) has dropped three straight and six of their last nine after starting the season 2-0.
ATLANTA – Georgia State is 5-2 this season with all wins coming on the road. In the most recent Oracle/ITA rankings, the Panthers climbed to No. 43.
The rankings have not affected the preparation and mindset of the team going forward as head coach Jason Marshall points out.
“It's nice to get that ranking, but then you have to come out and forget about that for the next match. Teams are coming for you more. They realize there is more opportunity to get ranked themselves, so I try to play off the ranking because we have so much season left to play and a lot of the rankings are out of our control.”
GSU has only played one match at home this season and the trend of road games will continue for two more weekends. The Panthers travel again to face No. 32 Columbia in New York on Friday and unranked Princeton in New Jersey on Saturday.
After dealing with gulf coast wind and lower temperatures, the team will play indoors both days this weekend. “We went from Florida where it was cold and windy to Indoors this week. We're a good indoor team, we beat Furman indoors and USC indoors so we know what we are capable of playing inside.”
Senior Linn Timmermann will have the opportunity to notch another ranked win in her belt when the team faces Columbia. She has taken down two ranked players this season versus South Carolina and Tennessee. Kanika Vaidya of Columbia is ranked No. 48 in singles competition this year with a 9-1 overall record in singles.
Georgia State has been clutch in a pair of tight matches this season. In the two 4-3 wins this season, Chiara Volejnicek has recorded the winning point. She came back from being down 5-3 and 40-love in the second set before rallying for the 4-6, 7-5, 6-1 victory. Volejnicek survived four match points in the match and won nine of the last ten games to secure the Panther win.
In the same match, Timmermann and Daniela Ramirez kept hopes alive by recording a pair of three set wins after the team fell behind early 1-3.
Against Florida Gulf Coast, Timmermann evened the match at 3-3 and set Volejnicek up for another match clinching point. Volejnicek went on to win 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.
One area Coach Marshall is looking for improvement in is doubles competition. “I think we're getting better with our doubles. Regardless of the results, the quality of tennis is getting better. We know that's really the biggest point of the match.”
Live video will be available for the match against Princeton on the Ivy League Digital Network starting at 3 p.m.
The Panthers will travel to Rock Hill, S.C for matches against Winthrop and Miami (Ohio) next weekend.
Follow updates all season on the official GSU Women's Tennis Twitter and Facebook pages.
