Bulldogs Fall At National Indoors

Friday, February 17

Charlottesville, Va.

3:30 PM

University of Georgia

North Carolina

February 17, 2017 | Men's Tennis

A recap of the first day of tournament play against North Carolina at the ITA National Team Indoor Championships.

Feb. 17, 2017

Final Stats

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. -- The 12th-seeded Georgia men's tennis team dropped a 4-2 match to the No. 5 seed, North Carolina, in the first round of the 2017 Intercollegiate Tennis Association National Team Indoor Championship.

The Bulldogs (3-4) took the doubles point with a pair of 6-4 victories on the first two courts, but dropped four matches to the Tar Heels (8-0) in the singles portion of the contest.

"This one hurt a little bit more than most," Georgia head coach Manuel Diaz said. "We probably played our best doubles point of the season, but had two or three singles matches where we had opportunities to win, but we didn't take the initiative. We are just not taking the initiative in the majority of matches. All the credit goes to North Carolina, because they took their opportunities and made something for themselves. We can't get down on ourselves. We need to start turning this around, because we face a very tough Baylor team tomorrow."

The Bulldog duos on court Nos. 1 and 2 each won their matches to give Georgia the first point of the day. Jan Zielinski and Robert Loeb took down the 21st-ranked pair of William Blumberg and Robert Kelly on No. 1, 6-4, followed by a 6-4 victory from Paul Oosterbaan and Walker Duncan against Jack Murray and Ronnie Schneider on No. 2. This marks the second time Oosterbaan and Duncan have clinched the doubles point for Georgia this season, with their first clincher coming during ITA Kick-Off weekend in the win over Washington. Wayne Montgomery and Nathan Ponwith were tied 5-5 on No. 3 before their match was cut short.

North Carolina tied the match at 1 when Blaine Boyden took a 6-2, 6-3 decision on No. 6 over Loeb, but Nathan Ponwith quickly gave the lead back to Georgia with a victory over Simon Soendergaard on No. 3. Ponwith, the 117th-ranked player in the nation and two-time SEC Freshman of the Week, improves to 4-0 in dual matches this season, with three of those wins coming on the third court. The Tar Heels would go on to take the following three decisions in singles, on Nos. 5, 1 and 2, to win the match.

On Saturday, the Bulldogs will face Baylor at 3:30 p.m. Live scoring can be found at the event page (http://gado.gs/3uq).

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Match Results

#12 Georgia vs. #5 North Carolina

Feb. 17, 2017 // ITA National Indoors // Charlottesville, Va.

Doubles Results

1. Jan Zielinski/Robert Loeb (UGA) def. #21 William Blumberg/Robert Kelly (UNC), 6-4

2. Paul Oosterbaan/Walker Duncan (UGA) def. Jack Murray/Ronnie Schneider (UNC), 6-4

3. Nathan Ponwith/Wayne Montgomery (UGA) vs. Blaine Boyden/Simon Soendergaard (UNC), 5-5, unfinished

Singles Results

1. #16 Ronnie Schneider (UNC) def. #15 Wayne Montgomery (UGA), 6-3, 7-6(9)

2. William Blumberg (UNC) def. #55 Emil Reinberg (UGA), 7-5, 2-6, 6-3

3. #117 Nathan Ponwith (UGA) def. Simon Soendergaard (UNC), 6-4, 6-3

4. Jan Zielinski (UGA) vs. Robert Kelly (UNC), 6-2, 6-7, 3-4, unfinished

5. Jack Murray (UNC) def. Walker Duncan (UGA), 7-5, 6-4

6. Blaine Boyden (UNC) def. Robert Loeb (UGA), 6-2, 6-3

Order of finish: Doubles (1, 2); Singles (6, 3, 5, 1, 2)