University of Georgia Athletics
University of Georgia
Kentucky
Men's Tennis Stumbles In SEC Semifinals
April 23, 2011 | Men's Tennis
April 23, 2011
GAINESVILLE, Fla. --- The Georgia men's tennis team couldn't rebound after losing the doubles point as it did yesterday, falling 4-0 to third-seeded Kentucky in Saturday's SEC Championships semifinals at Ring Tennis Complex in Gainesville, Fla. The three unfinished courts were all close, but UK was able to pick up the clincher before the Bulldogs could stage a comeback.
Georgia saw its tournament run end after advancing with yesterday's 4-1 win over LSU, now standing at 20-5 on the season while the Wildcats moved to 26-7. The Bulldogs will next hope to host an NCAA first and second round regional on campus May 13-14 as the sites are announced May 3.
"We just didn't play very well today and Kentucky did," said head coach Manuel Diaz. "They deserved to win. They outplayed us and outcoached us. It's a long season - you're allowed one or two of these but it always hurts when they come around. We can do better than we did today, and I think we're going to succeed after the season we've had. It's been a tremendous journey. In previous years we've lost in the semifinals of the SEC Tournament and come back to win a national championship, so it's not out of the realm of possibility and we're not lowering our expectations at all. We're not going to panic, we'll just be prepared to play better than we did today."
Georgia won the first completed doubles match of the day with an 8-5 win at No. 3 for the team of Drake Bernstein and Wil Spencer over Anthony Rossi and Alejandro Gomez. But the Wildcats evened it with a win at No. 1, as 35th-ranked Eric Quigley and Brad Cox downed No. 5 Javier Garrapiz and Hernus Pieters, 8-4. UK then captured the crucial point with a win at No. 2, as No. 83 Tom Jomby and Alberto Gonzalez defeated No. 64 Sadio Doumbia and Ignacio Taboada 8-5.
In singles, the Wildcats kept their momentum alive with first-set wins on four courts while Georgia was able to snag the first on courts three and six. Kentucky bumped its lead to 2-0 with a win at No. 5 as Rossi - ranked No. 123 - beat Pieters 6-3, 6-0. It became 3-0 when Bernstein fell 6-3, 6-4 to No. 83 Gonzalez on court four.
After going down 5-2 in the second down a set, Garrapiz fought back to take a 6-5 lead over fourth-ranked Quigley on court one, but the set was headed to a tiebreaker. Garrapiz took a 4-2 lead with the match in the balance, but Quigley battled back for a 7-5 win in the breaker to win it 6-4, 7-6(5) over Garrapiz to clinch the 4-0 shutout for the Wildcats.
The other three courts were all tight, as Taboada was just two games away from downing Jomby on court six and Spencer and Doumbia were both on the brink of heading to third sets in their matches before they were suspended.
Georgia was presented with its regular-season SEC championship trophy before the match celebrating its 33rd conference title.
Kentucky will take on the winner of today's later match between top-seeded Tennessee and the host Gators in tomorrow's final. The NCAA Selection Show is set for Tues., May 3 at 5:30 p.m. to air on NCAA.com. The singles and doubles fields will be released Wed., May 4 by 6 p.m. ET.
#11 Kentucky 4, #5 Georgia 0
Singles competition
1. #4 Eric Quigley (UK) def. #31 Javier Garrapiz (UGA) 6-4, 7-6 (7-5)
2. #18 Wil Spencer (UGA) vs. #52 Alex Musialek (UK) 4-6, 5-4, unfinished
3. #56 Sadio Doumbia (UGA) vs. Brad Cox (UK) 6-4, 1-3, unfinished
4. #83 Alberto Gonzalez (UK) def. Drake Bernstein (UGA) 6-3, 6-4
5. #123 Anthony Rossi (UK) def. Hernus Pieters (UGA) 6-3, 6-0
6. Ignacio Taboada (UGA) vs. Tom Jomby (UK) 6-4, 4-2, unfinished
Doubles competition
1. #35 Eric Quigley/Brad Cox (UK) def. #5 Javier Garrapiz/Hernus Pieters (UGA) 8-6
2. #83 Tom Jomby/Alberto Gonzalez (UK) def. #64 Sadio Doumbia/Ignacio Taboada (UGA) 8-5
3. Drake Bernstein/Wil Spencer (UGA) def. Anthony Rossi/Alejandro Gomez (UK) 8-5
Match Notes:
Kentucky 26-7; National ranking #11
Georgia 20-5; National ranking #5
Order of finish: Doubles (3,1,2); Singles (5,4,1)
