Ragin’ Cajuns Travel To Atlanta For Georgia Showdown

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Contact: Jeff Schneider

ATLANTA, Ga. – The Ragin' Cajuns men's tennis team is set for a pair of matches in Atlanta, Ga. this weekend as Louisiana squares off with Georgia State and Georgia Southern at the Blackburn Tennis Club.

“Coming away with wins over the Southland and MAC Champions last weekend has given our team confidence,” head coach Mark Jeffrey said. “We pushed The HEB Champion, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, to the wire who. Corpus Christi beat two teams ranked inside the top 35 nationally in No.30 BYU and No.34 Middle Tennessee at the same tournament. Our team is getting better as the guys have successfully used the tough opening to our schedule to their advantage in preparing themselves to peak at the end of the season. I look for our team to use the experiences they have had and turn that into a positive when they come to play and compete this weekend.”

The Cajuns (7-6) open the weekend with a match Saturday at 2 p.m. CT against conference foe Georgia State before closing out the weekend against Georgia Southern at a neutral site on Sunday at 11 a.m. CT. Live stats are available for the Georgia State match by clicking the link above.

“This is going to be a tough challenge for our players,” Jeffrey noted. “Georgia State has been ranked inside the top 60 in the nation for the past several years. The Panthers are a perennial colonial conference finalist and are strong at home.”

The Panthers (7-6) come into the contest having dropped five of the last six matches including closes losses to No.61 South Alabama, 4-3, and No.67 Georgia Tech, 4-3.

GSU is paced by senior Victor Valente who has been hot in both singles and doubles. In the last two weeks Valente has gone 4-0 in singles play with two victories over nationally-ranked opponents and one over a regionally-ranked foe. Last week, Valente defeated the No. 53-ranked Juan Spir of Georgia Tech in straight sets to give him his third win over a nationally-ranked opponent this season.

Georgia State's top doubles duo of seniors Victor Valente and Lucas Santa Ana defeated the No. 3-ranked doubles pair in the nation, Georgia Tech's Juan Spir and Vikram Hundal. It was the highest nationally-ranked doubles victory for a GSU doubles pair in school history. Valente and Santa Ana have an 11-0 record in doubles play.

The Eagles (5-3) have won two straight matches after losing a 4-3 nail biter to Central Florida at home. Georgia Southern is 3-2 away from Statesboro, Ga. including a 1-1 record in Atlanta, Ga. Sophomore Andrew Dromsky leads the way for Georgia Southern with a 4-2 record at the No.2 singles position.

“Georgia Southern is having a good year,” Jeffrey mentioned. “They have a winning record at 5-3 and have been playing well of late. This will present a challenge for our players to compete hard the day before and turn around and play Georgia Southern the next day. At the conference tournament you have to win three matches in three days. We are trying to get our guys to compete at a very high level all three days in a row. We don't want the level to drop off so this will be a great warm up to our tournament as it will give us the same type of environment.”

Louisiana has won five of its last seven matches including hard fought losses at No.51Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, 4-3, and No.57 Rice, 4-3. The Cajuns went 2-1 at the HEB Tournament of Champions a week ago earning third place at the event.

Junior Rick de Groot has had a strong spring season going 7-5 at the No.1 spot, while freshman Hunter Johnson has made his presence known with a 8-2 singles record.

In doubles, de Groot and freshman Jake Wynan will look to increase their impressive 8-2 record over the weekend. The Cajuns have been strong in doubles play this year posting a 19-9 record in doubles action this spring.

“I'm proud of our team for figuring out ways to get better. The guys are figuring it out and we just need to stay together and stay strong and battle together. This is fun. This is what you play for, and the pressure is a privilege. We enjoy the privilege of representing the University of Louisiana and making our school proud of what we are doing on and off the court.”

Follow the Ragin' Cajuns men's tennis team on twitter @CajunMensTennis.

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Ragin’ Cajuns Travel To Atlanta For Georgia Showdown

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