Friday, 02/15/2013

SEATTLE --- The sixth-seeded Georgia men’s tennis team posted a 4-0 win over conference rival and No 12 seed Ole Miss Friday afternoon to move into the quarterfinals at the ITA National Team Indoor Championships at the Seattle Tennis Club. Once again the Bulldogs got a big lift from their freshmen, including the clinching point from Nick Wood.

The Bulldogs won the all-important doubles point before snagging first-set wins on all six singles courts en route to the shutout. With the win, Georgia improves to 5-1 on the season and dropped the Rebels to 2-2.

“I was elated to see our guys compete the way they did,” said head coach Manuel Diaz. “Our guys are really taking their games to the next level. Our freshmen are maturing and getting some quality challenges, and rising to meet them. At the same time our veteran players are playing well. Nathan Pasha is playing tremendous tennis right now, and Hernus Pieters is always such a great competitor. Those guys have taken the young players and led them so well. This Ole Miss team we beat today is a great team and now we know we’re capable of winning these matches.”

Georgia got the doubles point with wins on courts No. 2 and 3. After suffering an 8-1 loss at No. 1, the Bulldogs responded with an 8-5 win for Nathan Pasha and Garrett Brasseaux over 25th-ranked Adrian Forberg Skogeng and William Kallberg at No. 2, while the clinch came at No. 3 as Austin Smith and Wood posted an 8-6 win over Johan Backstrom and Stefan Lindmark to give Georgia the early 1-0 lead.

Georgia then went on to win the first set on all courts, and Brasseaux was first to record a victory as he used a 6-4, 6-2 decision over Skogeng at No. 6 to make the team score 2-0. Smith then pushed the UGA lead to 3-0 with his 6-1, 3-6, 6-1 win over No. 84 Lindmark at line five, and the clinch came from the rookie Wood at No. 4 as he downed Backstrom 6-4, 5-7, 6-3 to complete the 4-0 shutout.

The Bulldogs’ trio of unfinished matches on the first three courts had each seen Georgia player win their first set via tiebreaker, and Pasha was headed to another breaker in the second over No. 24 Scholtz when it was suspended at No. 1. No. 92 Wagland was up 2-1 in the third on the nation’s sixth-ranked player Jonas Lutjen at No. 2, while Pieters was up 1-0 in the third vs. 40th-ranked Kallberg at No. 3.

Georgia has twice won the National Team Indoor, doing so most recently in 2007, in addition to reaching the finals six times. Today the Bulldogs improved to 36-9 all-time vs. Ole Miss.

The Bulldogs will face the No. 3 seed UCLA tomorrow in the quarterfinals beginning at 11 a.m. ET. Live scoring, live video, and the Georgia Tennis Live Chat will be available on Georgiadogs.com.

#6 Georgia 4, #12 Ole Miss 0

Singles competition

#21 Nathan Pasha (UG) vs. #24 Nik Scholtz (OM) 7-6 (7-4), 6-6, unfinished

#92 Ben Wagland (UG) vs. #6 Jonas Lutjen (OM) 7-6 (7-2), 3-6, 2-1, unfinished

#41 Hernus Pieters (UG) vs. #40 William Kallberg (OM) 7-6 (9-7), 3-6, 1-0, unfinished

Nick Wood (UG) def. Johan Backstrom (OM) 6-4, 5-7, 6-3

Austin Smith (UG) def. #84 Stefan Lindmark (OM) 6-1, 3-6, 6-1

Garrett Brasseaux (UG) def. Adrian Skogeng (OM) 6-4, 6-2

Doubles competition

#16 Jonas Lutjen/Nik Scholtz (OM) def. #5 Hernus Pieters/Ben Wagland (UG) 8-1

Nathan Pasha/Garrett Brasseaux (UG) def. #25 Adrian Skogeng/William Kallberg (OM) 8-5

Austin Smith/Nick Wood (UG) def. Johan Backstrom/Stefan Lindmark (OM) 8-6

Match Notes:

Ole Miss 2-2; National ranking #12

Georgia 5-1; National ranking #6

Order of finish: Doubles (1,2,3); Singles (6,5,4)