Spring Break
Georgia tennis team falls to Texas in NCAA quarterfinals
Issue date: 5/18/09 Section: Sports
COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS - The fourth-ranked Georgia men's tennis team hopes for an NCAA three-peat were dashed by 12th-ranked Texas here Sunday as the Longhorns posted a 4-2 win in the quarterfinals.
After winning the doubles point Saturday, the match was suspended due to thunderstorms and resumed Sunday morning. The Longhorns (23-6) seized control of the contest with three quick wins and ultimately snapped Georgia's 15-match NCAA Tournament winning streak when Olivier Sajous edged senior Josh Varela 7-6(6),7-6(4) at No. 4 for the clinching point. It was the first NCAA Tournament loss for the Bulldogs since the 2006 national championship match against Pepperdine in Palo Alto, Calif. Since then, Georgia won the 2007 NCAA title in Athens, the 2008 NCAA crown in Tulsa, Okla., and were trying to reach another Final Four.
On Saturday, Georgia won a hard-fought doubles point that the No. 2 team of Borja Malo and Christian Vitulli clinched 11-9 in a tiebreaker, saving five match points in the process. They got down two match points at 8-7 in regulation and then saved three more during the tiebreaker against the 60th-ranked duo of Dimitar Kutrovsky and Josh Zavala. Malo and Vitulli converted on their third chance in the tiebreaker. Malo's volleys coupled with Vitulli's strong service game keyed the win in the tiebreaker. They built a 6-3 lead in the match and then the Longhorns rallied to take a 7-6 lead. The Malo/Vitulli team is 9-7 this year.
Georgia got in position to clinch by getting a key win from the fifth-ranked All-America duo of Jamie Hunt and Nate Schnugg. They roared out to a 6-1 advantage and eventually posted an 8-5 win over the 27th-ranked tandem of Kellen Damico and Ed Corrie. The Hunt/Schnugg team is 30-11 this season including 21-6 at No. 1. With the point determined, the No. 3 match was suspended with the Longhorns leading 8-7.
Singles got underway for approximately 20 minutes when play was halted due to the bad weather. At that point, 12th-ranked Schnugg and 19th-ranked Kotrovsky were 3-3 at No. 1. Sophomore Javier Garrapiz led 3-1 over Ed Corrie in the No. 2 contest. At No. 3, Hunt had a 4-3 edge on Damico while Varela and Sajous were 2-all in the No. 4 contest. In the No. 5 match, Vitulli trailed Zavala 3-2 while Malo was down 3-2 to Miguel Reyes Varela at No. 6.
When play resumed Sunday, Texas evened the match when Reyes Varela registered a 6-2,6-1 win over Malo at No. 6. Then, Zavala gave the Longhorns the lead for good with a 6-4,6-1 win over Vitulli at No. 5. At No. 1, Schnugg was trying force a third set with Kutrovsky while Damico was on his way to splitting sets with Hunt at No. 3. Georgia was in good shape at No. 2 where Garrapiz was in control over Corrie while Sajous and Varela were headed for a first set tiebreaker. The No. 1 match went to a tiebreaker for the second set and Kutrovsky cruised to a 7-2 win and suddenly, the Longhorns led the overall match 3-1.
Garrapiz notched Georgia's second team point when he finished off Corrie 6-4,6-3 to close the deficit to 3-2. Meanwhile Sajous grabbed the first set over Varela 8-6 in a tiebreaker. The first set featured five service breaks. In the second set, the pair exchanged breaks at 3-4 and 4-4 before each held to make it 5-5. Then, they broke each other again to force another tiebreaker as Varela saved one match point. At No. 3, Damico picked up a break on Hunt for a 3-1 lead in the final set. Hunt got the break back to trail 3-2. All eyes moved back to court four. Sajous would go on to record a 7-4 win in the tiebreaker to lift the Longhorns to the team victory. It ended Varela's eight-match winning streak and gave him a final record of 30-9 for the year and 76-39 for his career.
"Texas played a great match today, we had a lot of momentum after the doubles yesterday and then the rain delay and it just felt like a separate match today," said Georgia coach Manuel Diaz. "We got outplayed today, and that can happen in sports. Our guys showed up today, they were prepared, alert and enthusiastic, and Texas handled the challenge better including the wind."
'I'm proud of my guys, we fought hard and left everything out on the court, and that's all we can ask," said Hunt. "Texas played really great. It was a little bit of a challenge coming back out today for singles after we won the doubles yesterday. That's the first time I've ever had to do that. We were still fired up and just as excited. Texas came out and played better in a couple of spots and got the momentum. No one wants their season to end. It's tough."
Georgia concludes the year with a 25-4 record. The Bulldogs made their 31st overall appearance in the NCAA Tournament with a 79-26 record. Schnugg will be in the NCAA Singles Championships on May 20th here and paired with Hunt in the NCAA Doubles event too.
#12 Texas 4, #4 Georgia 2
Doubles
1. #5 Jamie Hunt/Nate Schnugg def. #27 Ed Corrie/Kellen Damico (UT) 8-5
2. Borja Malo/Christian Vitulli (UGA) def. #60 Dimitar Kutrovsky/Josh Savala (UT) 9-8(9)
3. Drake Bernstein/Javier Garrapiz (UGA) vs. Miguel Reyes Varela/Olivier Sajous (UT) 7-8 susp.
Singles
1. #19 Dimitar Kutrovsky (UT) def. #12 Nate Schnugg (UGA) 6-4,7-6(2)
2. #62 Javier Garrapiz (UGA) def. #69 Ed Corrie (UT) 6-4,6-3
3. #75 Jamie Hunt (UGA) vs. #80 Kellen Damico (UT) 6-4,5-7,2-3
4. Olivier Sajous (UT) def. Josh Varela (UGA) 7-6(6),7-6(4)
5. Josh Zavala (UT) def. Christian Vitulli (UGA) 6-4,6-1
6. Miguel Reyes Varela (UT) def. Borja Malo (UGA) 6-2,6-1
Order of Finish: Doubles (1,2); Singles (6,5,1,2,4,)
Records: #4 Georgia (25-4); #12 Texas (23-6)
- Georgia Sports Communications
After winning the doubles point Saturday, the match was suspended due to thunderstorms and resumed Sunday morning. The Longhorns (23-6) seized control of the contest with three quick wins and ultimately snapped Georgia's 15-match NCAA Tournament winning streak when Olivier Sajous edged senior Josh Varela 7-6(6),7-6(4) at No. 4 for the clinching point. It was the first NCAA Tournament loss for the Bulldogs since the 2006 national championship match against Pepperdine in Palo Alto, Calif. Since then, Georgia won the 2007 NCAA title in Athens, the 2008 NCAA crown in Tulsa, Okla., and were trying to reach another Final Four.
On Saturday, Georgia won a hard-fought doubles point that the No. 2 team of Borja Malo and Christian Vitulli clinched 11-9 in a tiebreaker, saving five match points in the process. They got down two match points at 8-7 in regulation and then saved three more during the tiebreaker against the 60th-ranked duo of Dimitar Kutrovsky and Josh Zavala. Malo and Vitulli converted on their third chance in the tiebreaker. Malo's volleys coupled with Vitulli's strong service game keyed the win in the tiebreaker. They built a 6-3 lead in the match and then the Longhorns rallied to take a 7-6 lead. The Malo/Vitulli team is 9-7 this year.
Georgia got in position to clinch by getting a key win from the fifth-ranked All-America duo of Jamie Hunt and Nate Schnugg. They roared out to a 6-1 advantage and eventually posted an 8-5 win over the 27th-ranked tandem of Kellen Damico and Ed Corrie. The Hunt/Schnugg team is 30-11 this season including 21-6 at No. 1. With the point determined, the No. 3 match was suspended with the Longhorns leading 8-7.
Singles got underway for approximately 20 minutes when play was halted due to the bad weather. At that point, 12th-ranked Schnugg and 19th-ranked Kotrovsky were 3-3 at No. 1. Sophomore Javier Garrapiz led 3-1 over Ed Corrie in the No. 2 contest. At No. 3, Hunt had a 4-3 edge on Damico while Varela and Sajous were 2-all in the No. 4 contest. In the No. 5 match, Vitulli trailed Zavala 3-2 while Malo was down 3-2 to Miguel Reyes Varela at No. 6.
When play resumed Sunday, Texas evened the match when Reyes Varela registered a 6-2,6-1 win over Malo at No. 6. Then, Zavala gave the Longhorns the lead for good with a 6-4,6-1 win over Vitulli at No. 5. At No. 1, Schnugg was trying force a third set with Kutrovsky while Damico was on his way to splitting sets with Hunt at No. 3. Georgia was in good shape at No. 2 where Garrapiz was in control over Corrie while Sajous and Varela were headed for a first set tiebreaker. The No. 1 match went to a tiebreaker for the second set and Kutrovsky cruised to a 7-2 win and suddenly, the Longhorns led the overall match 3-1.
Garrapiz notched Georgia's second team point when he finished off Corrie 6-4,6-3 to close the deficit to 3-2. Meanwhile Sajous grabbed the first set over Varela 8-6 in a tiebreaker. The first set featured five service breaks. In the second set, the pair exchanged breaks at 3-4 and 4-4 before each held to make it 5-5. Then, they broke each other again to force another tiebreaker as Varela saved one match point. At No. 3, Damico picked up a break on Hunt for a 3-1 lead in the final set. Hunt got the break back to trail 3-2. All eyes moved back to court four. Sajous would go on to record a 7-4 win in the tiebreaker to lift the Longhorns to the team victory. It ended Varela's eight-match winning streak and gave him a final record of 30-9 for the year and 76-39 for his career.
"Texas played a great match today, we had a lot of momentum after the doubles yesterday and then the rain delay and it just felt like a separate match today," said Georgia coach Manuel Diaz. "We got outplayed today, and that can happen in sports. Our guys showed up today, they were prepared, alert and enthusiastic, and Texas handled the challenge better including the wind."
'I'm proud of my guys, we fought hard and left everything out on the court, and that's all we can ask," said Hunt. "Texas played really great. It was a little bit of a challenge coming back out today for singles after we won the doubles yesterday. That's the first time I've ever had to do that. We were still fired up and just as excited. Texas came out and played better in a couple of spots and got the momentum. No one wants their season to end. It's tough."
Georgia concludes the year with a 25-4 record. The Bulldogs made their 31st overall appearance in the NCAA Tournament with a 79-26 record. Schnugg will be in the NCAA Singles Championships on May 20th here and paired with Hunt in the NCAA Doubles event too.
#12 Texas 4, #4 Georgia 2
Doubles
1. #5 Jamie Hunt/Nate Schnugg def. #27 Ed Corrie/Kellen Damico (UT) 8-5
2. Borja Malo/Christian Vitulli (UGA) def. #60 Dimitar Kutrovsky/Josh Savala (UT) 9-8(9)
3. Drake Bernstein/Javier Garrapiz (UGA) vs. Miguel Reyes Varela/Olivier Sajous (UT) 7-8 susp.
Singles
1. #19 Dimitar Kutrovsky (UT) def. #12 Nate Schnugg (UGA) 6-4,7-6(2)
2. #62 Javier Garrapiz (UGA) def. #69 Ed Corrie (UT) 6-4,6-3
3. #75 Jamie Hunt (UGA) vs. #80 Kellen Damico (UT) 6-4,5-7,2-3
4. Olivier Sajous (UT) def. Josh Varela (UGA) 7-6(6),7-6(4)
5. Josh Zavala (UT) def. Christian Vitulli (UGA) 6-4,6-1
6. Miguel Reyes Varela (UT) def. Borja Malo (UGA) 6-2,6-1
Order of Finish: Doubles (1,2); Singles (6,5,1,2,4,)
Records: #4 Georgia (25-4); #12 Texas (23-6)
- Georgia Sports Communications
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