University of Georgia Athletics
Georgia To Host ITA Kickoff Weekend
January 27, 2011 | Men's Tennis
Jan. 27, 2011
ATHENS, Ga. --- The 11th-ranked University of Georgia men's tennis team is set to host one leg of the 2011 ITA Kickoff at the Lindsey Hopkins Indoor Facility in Athens this Saturday and Sunday, Jan. 29-30.
The Bulldogs are hosting one of the 15 national sections for the third straight year. In all, 60 teams - four at each site - are competing this weekend for a place in the National Team Indoors Feb. 18-21 in Seattle, Wash.
Georgia will first take on No. 55 Oklahoma State on Saturday at 2 p.m. before facing either Georgia Tech or North Carolina. The Bulldogs' Sunday match will be at 2 p.m. regardless of win or loss Saturday.
Live scoring will be available for all four matches on Georgiadogs.com. Additonally, the Georgia Men's Tennis live chat will be hosted for the UGA matches each day, and can be accessed on the men's tennis homepage by clicking on the link on the right titled "Live Tennis Match Chats."
"This is a tremendous quality regional," said head coach Manuel Diaz. "We're really excited about hosting and there's obviously going to be some outstanding competition. I think whichever two teams are playing in the Round of 32 on Sunday would possibly have had the chance to be in the final eight or final four teams - that's the quality of this second round. There's a lot of pressure and a lot at stake. It will be fun for our guys."
GEORGIA AT THE ITA INDOORS: Georgia has won the National Team Indoor Tournament twice (2006, '07) and reached the finals six times (1982, '94, '95, '97, '98, and 2009). The Indoors began in 1973, and Georgia has played in it every year except in 2003. In 2010, the Bulldogs advanced to the National Indoor Tournament with wins over Northwestern and North Carolina during the the ITA Kickoff weekend in Athens.
LAST TIME OUT: Georgia opened the 2011 dual match season with a 7-0 win over Clemson Monday at the Lindsey Hopkins Indoor Facility. The Bulldogs (1-0) won all nine counted matches to improve to 47-9 all-time in season openers including eight straight wins. In addition to the nine counted matches, Georgia also won three exhibition matches against the Tigers (5-1).
Georgia swept the doubles point to take a 1-0 lead. In singles, Drake Bernstein was the first completed match at No. 3. No. 47 Sadio Doumbia extended Georgia's lead to 3-0 with a 6-1, 6-2 win over Wesley Moran at No. 4. No. 13 Javier Garrapiz clinched the match for Georgia at No. 1 with a 6-2, 6-1 win over DiFazio.
No. 53 Wil Spencer stretched his winning streak to six matches with a 7-5, 7-5 win over Kevin Galloway at No. 2. At No. 5, 119th-ranked Hernus Pieters quickly beat Cal Hilsman 6-0, 6-2, and Ignacio Taboada closed out the match with a 3-6, 6-3, 1-0(8) win at No. 6.
Campbell Johnson and Will Oliver both won exhibition matches for Georgia in singles and doubles. The Bulldogs lost only one set in the entire match against Clemson.
GEORGIA VS. OKLAHOMA STATE: Incidentally, Georgia is only 2-0 all-time vs. Oklahoma State and the teams have not faced one another since 1984.
Georgia is 24-4 all-time against teams currently in the Big 12 conference.
LOOKING AT THE COWBOYS: Oklahoma State started its dual match season off with a 5-2 loss to Memphis on Jan. 22 in Tulsa, Okla.
The Cowboys started the season ranked No. 47 in the ITA poll and fell to No. 55 following the setback to the Tigers in this week's edition. The squad has no players currently ranked in singles, but the doubles team of Aleksey Bessonov and Rifat Biktyakov are currently the ninth-rated pair in the country.
SPENCER NAMED SEC PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Georgia men's tennis junior Wil Spencer snagged the first SEC Player of the Week honor of the 2011 season, according to a league announcement Wednesday morning.
The native of Ponce de Leon, Fla., is on a six-match winning streak following Monday's 7-5, 7-5 win over Clemson's Kevin Galloway in the dual match opener. Georgia swept the Tigers 7-0 at the Lindsey Hopkins Indoor Facility.
Spencer's streak began as the junior won five matches on his way to claiming the SEC Coaches Indoor Championships singles title in Knoxville, Tenn., on Jan. 17. During that run, Spencer defeated each of the top three seeds in the tournament including the No. 2 ranked player in the country in Kentucky's Eric Quigley in the finals.
IN THE RANKINGS: The Bulldogs begin the year ranked No. 11 - the same place they finished the 2010 spring after a run to the NCAA semifinals on their home courts and posted an overall record of 21-8. Georgia remained at No. 11 in the Jan. 25 edition, which was a team poll only.
Senior Javier Garrapiz started the season with an individual singles ranking of No. 13, followed by teammates Sadio Doumbia (No. 47), Wil Spencer (No. 53), and Hernus Pieters (No. 119).
Georgia has two teams rated in doubles, with Garrapiz and Pieters sitting at No. 14 and the pairing of Doumbia and junior Ignacio Taboada ranked No. 23.
ON DECK: UGA will remain at home to host USC Upstate next Wed., Feb. 2 at 2:30 p.m. Following that match the Bulldogs will take to the road for the first time on the dual match slate when they travel to face No. 4 Ohio State on Sun., Feb. 6 at 1 p.m. ET in Columbus, Ohio.
