University of Georgia Athletics
Five Bulldogs Advance At SEC Indoor Championships
January 16, 2010 | Men's Tennis
Additionally, two of Georgia’s doubles teams are still alive and headed for the round of 16 tomorrow.
Joining the Bulldogs in competition are Alabama, Florida, Kentucky, LSU, Mississippi State, Ole Miss, and Tennessee.
The freshman tandem of Bo Seal and Will Reynolds earned victories in their first round matches to kick off their college careers, as Seal used straight sets of 7-5, 7-5 to roll past Kentucky’s Alberto Gonzalez. The Chattanooga, Tenn., native then used scores of 6-4, 6-3 to advance past the tournament’s fifth seed – George Coupland of Mississippi State. Reynolds downed Alabama’s Ian Chadwell, 6-1, 6-2, before falling 6-4, 6-2 to Boris Conkic of Tennessee in the round of 32.
Joining Seal in tomorrow’s round of 16 for Georgia are sixth-seeded Javier Garrapiz and Nate Schnugg – who enjoyed first round byes – as well as Jamie Hunt and eighth-seeded Drake Bernstein. Garrapiz defeated LSU’s Cody Loup 6-1, 6-2 in the round of 32, while Schnugg earned the victory over Ricky Doverspike of the Crimson Tide, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4, responding from the first set loss to advance.
Hunt won his round of 64 match, 6-0, 6-4, over LSU’s James Tubervill before winning again in straight sets in the round of 32 by a score of Nassim Slilam of Florida, 6-0, 6-2. Bernstein – the Bulldogs fifth player to find the round of 16 – won by a score of 6-1, 7-5 over the Volunteers’ Ed Jones before defeating Anthony Rossi of Kentucky, 6-3, 6-2.
Georgia’s Christian Vitulli posted a first-round win over UF’s Billy Federhoffer, using a score of 6-2, 7-6(5), but was tripped up in the second round as he fell to LSU’s Sebastian Carlsson by a count of 6-4, 6-1. The Bulldogs’ Alex Hill dropped his first-round match, 6-1, 6-2, to Tennessee’s Davey Sandgren, but will pick up action tomorrow in the consolation draw.
The Bulldogs then moved on to doubles, where Bernstein and Garrapiz continued their big day as they earned an 8-2 victory over UK’s Rossi and Musialek to advance to the round of 16. Schnugg and Hunt will join them as they had a first-round bye.
Georgia’s other two doubles teams suffered first-round losses. Hill and Reynolds were bested by Alabama’s Chadwell and Doverspike, 8-4, while Seal and Vitulli fell, 9-7 to another Crimson Tide duo in Blanchard and Botha.
“We had an outstanding day today,” said head coach Manuel Diaz. “I am very impressed with most all of our guys. I think we got a lot accomplished today, and I’m particularly excited with the play of our freshmen – Bo Seal and Will Reynolds. Will just did a great job in his first-round match and really played Boris extremely close. We’re going to need good play from him this year in order to be successful. Bo, too, just had a tremendous first day.”
“I was also very pleased with Jamie Hunt and the quality of his game today. Nate made great adjustments after the first set and I thought he played very well the last two sets. Javy and Drake did a solid job in taking care of business and we’re looking forward to tomorrow’s challenges.”
Action resumes tomorrow here, beginning with the consolation round of 32 at 9 a.m., where Hill will represent the Bulldogs. Singles main draw action will follow.
Garrapiz is set to take on Musialek at 9:30 a.m., while Hunt will face Kentucky’s Eric Quigley – the three-seed – also at 9:30. The rookie Seal will take on Florida’s Sekou Bangoura at 10 a.m. and Schnugg faces LSU’s Neal Skupski – the four-seed at 10 a.m. and Bernstein closes it out for UGA with a 10:30 a.m. round of 16 match vs. Mississippi’s Marcel Thiemann.
The round of 16 will be the only singles going on tomorrow. Both the round of 16 and the quarterfinals of doubles will follow.
Sunday will see the singles quarterfinals followed by round of 16 singles consolation and both singles and doubles semis, while action will conclude Monday with both finals.
Keep up with the action on www.georgiadogs.com throughout the weekend. Draw is attached.