University of Georgia Team Page
ATHENS, Ga. --- Georgia’s doubles duo of junior Hernus Pieters and freshman Ben Wagland used a tiebreaker victory over Ole Miss on Friday to advance to the semifinals of the prestigious USTA/ITA National Indoor Championships at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing, N.Y.
The pair posted a 9-8(6) win over the Rebels’ Jonas Lutjen and Nik Scholtz to move on to tomorrow’s semi against the top-seeded Auburn team of Daniel Cochrane and Andreas Mies set for 9 a.m.
Also in New York on Friday, senior All-American KU Singh advanced in the singles consolation draw, defeating Virginia’s Harrison Richmond by a score of 6-1, 6-3. He will meet Winston Lin of host Columbia University in the second round at 11 a.m.
“KU had a great win today,” said head coach Manuel Diaz. “He got a lot better rhythm and hit the ball really well. Hopefully he’ll keep this up. There are a lot of great players in the consolation draw – it’s always a great title to take. In doubles, our guys played phenomenal. It was just a great match, with both teams holding serve throughout. I’m really proud of their super effort and the great composure they showed. Tomorrow will be a challenge against the No. 1 seeds but we’re looking forward to it.”
Back in Athens, six Bulldogs began play at the annual Bulldog Scramble at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex. The round robin event features players from UGA, Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi State, and East Tennessee State.
In doubles, Georgia’s team of Garrett Brasseaux and Marco Nunez defeated Alabama’s Rens van der Vis and Harris Barnard by a score of 8-3, while Will Oliver and Nathan Pasha fell 8-6 to the Crimson Tide team of Stuart Kenyon and Brian Conlon.
In singles, Brasseaux paced the Bulldogs on the day with two wins – going 6-3, 7-5 over Conlon and 6-1, 6-1 over Kentucky’s Brett Johnson. Pasha won his only match of the day, 6-2, 4-6, 6-0, over van der Vis, while Eric Diaz split his singles matches, first defeating ETSU’s Roger Ordeig 6-3, 7-5 before falling in three sets, 3-6, 6-2, 6-2, to UK’s Ryuji Hirooka. Oliver also went 1-1 Friday, rebounding from a 6-4, 6-1 loss to Barnard with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Binder later in the day. To round out the Bulldogs’ day-one performance, the freshman Nunez posted a 6-2, 6-1 win over Kenyon in his first outing before suffering a tough 6-7, 7-6, 7-5 loss to ETSU’s Rogerio Ribeiro in the day’s final match.
“Garrett Brasseaux had a great day and is really coming along well,” said associate head coach Will Glenn. “We are excited about his progress. All the guys played hard, and we’re looking forward to more good competition.”
Action will continue here tomorrow morning at 9:30 a.m. beginning with singles. Doubles will follow at 2 p.m.
