2012 Georgia Men s Tennis

Transcription

1 2012 Georgia Men s Tennis 6 NCAA Championships: 1985, 1987, 1999, 2001, 2007, SEC Titles Sports Communications Contact: Kate Burkholder (kateburk@sports.uga.edu) or Ben Beaty (bbeaty@sports.uga.edu) Date Opponent/Tournament Time Jan. 21 Clemson W, 7-0 Jan. 29 TCU (ITA Kickoff) W, 7-0 Jan. 30 Nebraska/Virginia Tech (ITA Kickoff) W, 7-0 Feb. 4 East Tennessee State W, 6-1 Feb. 10 William & Mary W, 6-1 Feb. 14 Georgia Tech W, 7-0 Feb SCHEDULE (13-1, 4-0) ITA National Team Indoors% First round vs. California W, 4-0 Quarterfinals vs. Florida W, 4-1 Semifinals vs. Southern Cal L, 4-1 Feb. 27 Furman W, 6-1 March 2 at South Carolina* W, 6-1 March 4 at Florida* W, 4-3 March 9 Mississippi State* W, 4-3 March 11 Ole Miss* W, 4-3 March 21 Ohio State 2:30 p.m. March 23 Arkansas* 2:30 p.m. March 25 at LSU* 2:00 p.m. March 30 Kentucky* 5:00 p.m. April 1 Vanderbilt* 1:00 p.m. April 6 at Alabama* 4:00 p.m. April 8 at Auburn* 2:00 p.m. April 14 at Tennessee* 1:00 p.m. April SEC Tournament TBA May NCAA First & Second Rounds TBA May NCAA Championships (Team)& May NCAA Championships (S&D)& All Day All Day All times are Eastern and subject to change Home matches in bold * SEC match % Charlottesville, Va. & Athens, Ga. (27th time) 2012 BULLDOGS Starters Returning/Lost... 4/2 Letterwinners Returning/Lost... 7/ All-Americans Returning/Lost... 2/1 Newcomers ROSTER Name Height Class Hometown/Previous School Garrett Brasseaux 5-7 So. Mandeville, La./St. Paul s School Eric Diaz 6-2 RFr. Athens, Ga./Monsignor Donovan Sadio Doumbia 6-1 Sr. Toulouse, France/AUM Campbell Johnson 5-10 So. Rancho Santa Fe, Calif./Bridgeway Casey Kay 5-10 Fr. Atlanta, Ga./Alpharetta Will Oliver 5-8 Jr. San Antonio, Texas/Alamo Heights Nathan Pasha 6-3 Fr. Atlanta, Ga./Homeschooled Hernus Pieters 6-2 So. Pretoria, South Africa/Hoerskool Waterkloof Will Reynolds 6-1 RSo. Chattanooga, Tenn./Chatt. Christian KU Singh 5-10 Jr. Gurgaon, Haryana, India/Illinois Wil Spencer 5-11 Sr. Ponce de Leon, Fla./Texas A&M Ignacio Taboada 6-0 Sr. Atlanta, Ga./University of Miami Head Coach: Manuel Diaz (24th season) Associate Head Coach: Will Glenn (7th season) Volunteer Coach: Justin Pickham (1st season) #3* Georgia (13-1) vs. #2* Ohio State (19-1) Wed., March 21 2:30 p.m. Athens, Ga. Dan Magill Tennis Complex *new rankings released Tuesday evening GEORGIA VS. OHIO STATE: Riding a five-match winning streak, the No. 3 Georgia men s tennis team (13-1) returns to action following a 10-day layoff to take on second-ranked Ohio State at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex on Wed., March 21 beginning at 2:30 p.m. The meeting with the Buckeyes (19-1) will be the Bulldogs second against a top-two opponent this season after taking on No. 1 Southern Cal earlier in the year. In all, Georgia has faced seven teams ranked in the ITA top-25, going 6-1 in those matches. The Bulldogs are taking a brief hiatus from SEC competition after opening conference play with a 4-0 record. Live scoring and the Georgia Tennis Live Chat will be available on Georgiadogs.com in addition to live video streaming of all six courts. Admission to all matches is free. LOOKING AT THE BUCKEYES: Georgia is 10-3 all-time vs. Ohio State, though the Buckeyes have won each of the last three meetings with UGA s last win in the series coming in At No. 2 in the country and 19-1 (2-0 in Big Ten play), Ohio State, like Georgia reached the semifinals of the 2011 NCAA Championships in Palo Alto, Calif., and the finals of the 2012 ITA National Indoor Tournament in Charlottesville, Va., consistently ranking among the nation s elite in the past several years. Georgia and Ohio State each have just one loss in the 2012, both coming vs. top-ranked Southern California. Ohio State has now won 61 of its last 62 regular-season road matches dating back to 2006, and have won 36 of their last 38 matches overall. Most recently the Buckeyes began a Southern swing that started Monday in Baton Rouge as OSU knocked off LSU by a 6-1 score. In the individual rankings, Blaz Rola is currently the team s highestranked player at No. 6 in singles, while Chase Buchanan sits at No. 12. They are followed by Peter Kobelt at No. 46, Devin McCarthy at No. 79, Ille Van Engelen at No. 107, and Nelson Vick at No In doubles, the team of Rola and Buchanan are currently ranked first in the country, while Buchanan and Kobelt are No. 25 when playing together. Also ranked are McCarthy and Van Engelen at No. 39 and the team of Rola and Connor Smith at No. 54. Rola is the team leader in wins with 22 in singles, while Ohio State s Nos. 1 and 2 doubles teams of Rola and Buchanan and McCarthy and Van Engelen both have 21 wins on the year. Ohio State is coached by Ty Tucker - the 2009 ITA National Coach of the Year - currently in his 13th season. LAST TIME OUT: The Georgia men s tennis team improved to 13-1 on the season and 4-0 in SEC play with last weekend s close 4-3 wins over Mississippi State and Ole Miss in Athens. The Bulldogs had led MSU 4-1 before the visiting Bulldogs won the remaining two matches to make the final score 4-3 last Friday night, while on Sunday it came down to the final match as sophomore Hernus @CoachMannyDiaz Facebook.com/UGAMensTennis Match #15

2 Georgia Quick Facts Location...Athens, Ga. Enrollment...34,677 Founded Nickname...Bulldogs Colors... Red & Black Conference... Southeastern Facility Dan Magill Tennis Complex President... Dr. Michael F. Adams Athletic Director... Greg McGarity Faculty Athletics Rep... David Shipley Sport Facilitator...Matt Brachowski NCAA Titles...6 ITA Team Indoor Titles...2 SEC Regular Season Titles SEC Tournament Titles TENNIS Staff Head Coach...Manuel Diaz, 24rd season Alma Mater...Georgia 75 Record at UGA (.826) Career Record...same Associate Head Coach...Will Glenn Volunteer Coach... Justin Pickham Manager... Matt Jackson Administrative Assistant...Lynn Steedman Athletic Trainer...Jared Maisel Tennis phone... (706) Review Final Record SEC Record (T1st East/Overall) Home Away Neutral Final Ranking... No. 5 Postseason Results......SEC regular-season champions...ncaa Semifinals (Palo Alto, Calif.) SPORTS COMMUNICATIONS Ben Beaty...bbeaty@sports.uga.edu Kate Burkholder...kateburk@sports.uga.edu Office phone... (706) Website... Mailing address...p.o. Box Athens, Ga Johan Backstrom on court No. 5 to break the 3-3 tie and give Georgia the victory. The Bulldogs were out of action this past week for spring break. ISNER BEATS DJOKOVIC, REACHES TOP 10: Former Georgia men s tennis standout John Isner used a win over world No. 1 Novak Djokovic on Saturday to promptly move into the top 10 of the ATP rankings for the first time in his career. His current No. 10 ranking makes him the first player since fellow Bulldog Mikael Pernfors to play four years at the college level before attaining a top-10 professional ranking. Pernfors was ranked No. 10 in Isner defeated Djokovic in Saturday s semifinals of the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells, 7-6, 3-6, 7-6, before falling to No. 3 Roger Federer in Sunday s final, 7-6, 6-3. The win over Djokovic was Isner s first over a top-ranked opponent and secured him his first ever appearance in an ATP Masters 1000 final. It was the first win for an American over a No. 1 since James Blake defeated Federer in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. The 2011 U.S. Open quarterfinalist will next compete at the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami this week before rejoining his Davis Cup teammates for the World Group quarterfinals April 6-8 in France. Isner was a four-time All-America at Georgia from and led the Bulldogs to the 2007 NCAA title. He is still the school record holder in both singles and doubles wins for a career. MIXING IT UP: After a season in which the Bulldog doubles lineups were solidifed early on, head coach Manuel Diaz has done some shuffling of his teams in So far in 2012 Diaz s Bulldogs have gone with 22 different doubles team combinations out of a total of 66 possibilities. SPENCER S RECORD WATCH: Georgia senior captain Wil Spencer sits just four singles wins shy of reaching 100 for his career - having played his first two seasons at Texas A&M and his final two at UGA. Spencer s combined career record at the two institutions is Four more wins would make Spencer just the 15th player in UGA history to win 100 singles matches, a feat that was most recently accomplished by Drake Bernstein and Javier Garrapiz last season. IN THE RANKINGS: Following a pair of wins last weekend over No. 12 Mississippi State and 16thranked Ole Miss, the Georgia men s tennis team climbed three spots to No. 3 in the March 13 ITA National Rankings. This marks the Bulldogs highest ranking since they were No. 3 in April of Southern Cal is No. 1, followed by Ohio State, Georgia, UCLA, Virginia, Duke, Kentucky, Pepperdine, Stanford and Florida to round out the top-10. The Bulldogs are 13-1 this season, including a 4-0 mark in SEC play, with the only loss coming to top-ranked Southern Cal in the National Indoor Tournament. In the new singles rankings, Wil Spencer is No. 8, followed by Sadio Doumbia at No. 20, Ignacio Taboada at No. 29, KU Singh at No. 50, and Hernus Pieters at No. 70. In doubles, the tandem of Spencer and Garrett Brasseaux is ranked 14th, Doumbia and Taboada are 20th, Pieters and Taboada are 31st, while Doumbia and Nathan Pasha are ranked No. 52. An additional team poll will be released late Tuesday in advance of the Georgia-Ohio State match, so the No. 2 vs. No. 3 match-up is subject to change. SPENCER NAMED SEC PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Following a comeback performance that saw him overcome a 5-1 third-set deficit to secure a road win for Georgia over Florida on March 4, men s tennis senior Wil Spencer was named the Southeastern Conference Player of the Week, the league office announced last Wednesday afternoon. Third-ranked Spencer posted a perfect 4-0 record on the first weekend of SEC play, including one of the biggest singles wins of his career as he rallied to break three times in the third to defeat Bob van Overbeek at No. 1 and clinch Georgia s 4-3 victory in Gainesville. The Bulldogs had taken a 3-0 lead in the team match before the Gators rallied to tie with three straight singles wins, leaving just Spencer and van Overbeek on court with the match on the line and the Gators just a game away. Spencer also teamed with junior KU Singh for a pair of doubles wins on the weekend, while he also won his singles match vs. South Carolina on Friday night in Columbia. The Ponce de Leon, Fla., native is now just four wins shy of 100 for his career. PASHA RECOGNIZED: Georgia men s tennis rookie Nathan Pasha went a combined 5-0 over the course of three matches, including two match-clinching victories for UGA at the ITA National Indoors on his way to the first SEC Freshman of the Week honors of his career, the league office announced Feb. 22. He also was named to the National Indoors All-Tournament Team on Feb. 24. The Atlanta native s stellar play helped the Bulldogs to a 3-1 week, including a trip to the Indoor semifinals at the Boar s Head Sports Club in Charlottesville, Va. He recorded three singles victories at line six while adding a pair of doubles wins with Ignacio Taboada at No. 3. Pasha s wins vs. 13th-ranked California in the first round and fifth-ranked Florida in the quar-

3 terfinal clinched both of those matches, while he also won vs. top-ranked Southern Cal in the semifinals, taking down No. 86 Roberto Quiroz to even the score at 1-1. It was his second career win over a ranked opponent. WINNING THE FALL : Georgia s mantra this preseason was winning the fall, meaning a collective focus was placed on getting better each day during the fall individual season in order to be fully prepared for team play. The team did that and then some. The Bulldogs were led in the fall by senior Wil Spencer, who continued where he left off in 2011 as a junior. Spencer started his season off beating third-ranked Eric Quigley of Kentucky to win the Southern Intercollegiate Championships in Athens in September. Spencer, who won 12 matches against ranked opponents, also reached the final of the ITA All-American Championships and won the consolation draw of the National Indoor Championships to finish the fall with a record of Hernus Pieters, winner of the 2011 Bulldog Scramble, and Sadio Doumbia had 13 wins apiece, and Ignacio Taboada reached the singles final of the ITA Southeast Regional Championships. Eric Diaz and Campbell Johnson each won nine matches, while freshman Nathan Pasha won eight matches. Johnson won the singles title at the Georgia Tech Fall Invitational, while Diaz and Garrett Brasseaux reached the doubles final. SPENCER, USA CAPTURE MASTER U TITLE: University of Georgia senior men s tennis player Wil Spencer went a perfect 3-0 in helping the United States win three matches to claim the 2011 Master U BNP Paribas championship in Rouen, France in December. Spencer was one of six American college players three men, three women representing their country and joining seven other teams of collegians from around the world at the sixth annual event. The United States ultimately claimed the championship with wins over Germany (6-1), Belgium (7-0), and France (4-3) in the best-of-seven format consisting of two men s and two women s singles, one men s and one women s doubles, and one mixed doubles match each day. Spencer won all three of his singles matches, including the defining match of the tournament as he rallied from down 4-1 in the third vs. his French counterpart Sebastien Rocher with the U.S. already trailing 3-0 and facing the loss. Spencer s tiebreak victory gave the United States its first point, which would spark the team to three straight doubles wins to pull it out, 4-3. PICKHAM NAMED VOLUNTEER COACH: Two-time Division II Southeast Region Assistant Coach of the Year Justin Pickham will serve as the University of Georgia men s tennis volunteer coach for the season, head coach Manuel Diaz announced in September. Pickham a native of Australia joined the Bulldog program this fall after serving as the assistant men s and women s tennis coach at Georgia College in Milledgeville since Prior to that, Pickham was the assistant for both tennis programs at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College in Tifton. He has additional coaching experience with Tennis Coaches Australia since 2001 and spent six years coaching with the Future Stars Summer Tennis Camps in Long Island, N.Y. SINGH TRANSFERS TO GEORGIA: KU Singh, who played Nos. 2 and 3 for the University of Illinois last season, has transferred to the University of Georgia and will have two seasons of eligibility with the Bulldogs. Singh, who will be a junior, played seven matches at No. 2 and nine at No. 3 for the Illini in 2011 and helped the team reach the NCAA Championships round of 16. Twice this year Singh defeated Yuki Bhambri, the No. 1 junior in India, and he has also won a pair of Futures tournaments. In addition, Singh reached the semifinals once and the quarterfinals three different times at Futures events. The Gurgaon, India, native was ranked as high as No. 94 in ITF Juniors. Singh was also named Academic All-Big Ten at Illinois in KAY JOINS BULLDOGS EARLY: One of Manuel Diaz s four signees for 2012 has already joined the program, as freshman and Atlanta native Casey Kay - out of Alpharetta High School - enrolled a semester early. Kay will redshirt the 2012 spring season. Kay was ranked the No. 3 prospect in Georgia, according to tennis reruiting.net, and was ranked as high as No. 24 nationally earlier this year. He has reached the semifinals of two USTA National Opens. ON DECK: The Bulldogs resume SEC competition this coming weekend, hosting No. 43 Arkansas on Friday at 2:30 p.m. before traveling to Baton Rouge to take on No. 27 LSU on Sunday at 2 p.m. ET. THE MANUEL DIAZ FILE 24th season (all at UGA) (.826) career record (all at UGA) Four NCAA Championships (1999, 2001, 2007, 2008) One of only two active coaches (USC s Peter Smith) to have won more than one NCAA Championship and one of only three active coaches with an NCAA Championship to his name Became just the sixth coach in UGA history to notch 500 wins on March 15, 2010 vs. Vandy Led Bulldogs to 71 straight home match wins through 2010, second-longest in program history Coached UGA to its first ITA Team Indoor National Championship in 2006, then went backto-back, winning another in 2007 Three-time ITA National Coach of the Year (1995, 2001, 07) Five-time ITA Southeast Region Coach of the Year (1991, 92, 95, 2001, 06) Five-time SEC Coach of the Year (1985, 95, 2001, 06, 07) 30 players have received 64 All-America honors 13 SEC regular-season titles, seven SEC Tournament titles Appeared in NCAA Championship match 11 times (1989, 91, 93, 97, 98, 99, 2001, 02, 06, 07, 08) Seven individual singles National Champions Three individual doubles National Champions Seven four-time All-Americans, which ranks No. 1 nationally 74 All-SEC selections Six four-time All-SEC honorees, most recently Javier Garrapiz ( ) Four Academic All-Americans 44 Academic All-SEC accolades 15 SEC Scholar-Athlete Award winners Three Clayton-Wilhite Scholar-Athlete Award winners Four Joel Eaves Award winners Assistant Coach At UGA under Dan Magill from Promoted to Associate Head Coach in 1985 Became Head Coach in 1989 upon Magill s retirement Georgia Tennis letterwinner (UGA 75) Total of 30 seasons in college coaching Personal Married to the former Suzanne Rondeau of Toronto, Canada They have three sons: Manuel, III, 22, Eric, 19, and Alex, 13 Eric is a redshirt freshman on the tennis team Born March 16, 1953 in San Juan, Puerto Rico Graduated from Sacred Heart Academy, 1971

4 Overall record: 13-1 SEC: 4-0 Region: 3-0 Home: 9-0 Away: 2-0 Neutral: 2-1 Vs. Top 25: 6-1 vs. Last Singles Overall Dual Tour SEC Ranked Streak 10 Garrett Brasseaux L5 4-6 Eric Diaz W1 5-5 Sadio Doumbia L1 5-3 Campbell Johnson W1 7-3 Will Oliver W1 4-6 Nathan Pasha W2 9-1 Hernus Pieters W1 5-4 Will Reynolds L3 2-7 KU Singh L1 7-2 Wil Spencer L2 5-3 Ignacio Taboada W5 9-1 TOTALS PERCENTAGE vs. Last Doubles Overall Dual Tour SEC Ranked Streak 10 Doumbia/Spencer W2 2-0 Diaz/Pasha W1 1-1 Johnson/Oliver L1 0-1 Brasseaux/Diaz L1 3-1 Brasseaux/Spencer L3 4-6 Pasha/Pieters W1 3-3 Doumbia/Taboada W3 8-2 Oliver/Reynolds W1 1-1 Diaz/Johnson W1 3-1 Diaz/Oliver L1 1-1 Pieters/Taboada W1 6-4 Johnson/Reynolds L1 2-1 Doumbia/Pasha L1 5-3 Oliver/Pasha L1 0-1 Pasha/Taboada W6 6-0 Diaz/Pieters W2 2-0 Pasha/Reynolds W1 1-0 Diaz/Singh L2 0-2 Singh/Pieters W1 1-0 Doumbia/Pieters W1 5-2 Brasseaux/Singh W1 1-0 Singh/Spencer W1 4-1 TOTALS PERCENTAGE Singles Doubles Rank Date Opponent Result Record SEC Home Away Neutral UGA Opp. J21 Clemson W, W W W W W W L W W 4 66 J29 TCU W, W W W W W W W W u 4 51 J30 Virginia Tech W W W W W W W u W W 4 34 F4 ETSU W, W W W W W L W W W 4 64 F10 William & Mary W, W W W W L W W W W 4 NR F14 Georgia Tech W, W W W W W W L W W 4 29 F17 California W, u u W W u W u W W 4 13 F18 Florida W, u W W W L W L L u 4 5 F19 Southern Cal L, L u u L L W L L u 4 1 F27 Furman W, L W W W W W W W W 4 NR M2 South Carolina W, W W W W L W W W W 6 22 M4 Florida W, W L L W W L L W W 6 10 M9 Miss. State W, L W W W L W L W L 6 12 M11 Ole Miss W, L L L W W W W L W 6 16 M21 Ohio State M23 Arkansas M25 LSU M30 Kentucky A1 Vanderbilt A6 Alabama A8 Auburn A14 Tennessee A19-A22 SEC Tourn. M11-13 NCAA Reg. M17-28 NCAA Tourn.

5 ITA Top 25 (March 13, 2012) Rank Team Previous 1 University of Southern California 1 2 Ohio State University 2 3 University of Georgia 6 4 UCLA 4 5 University of Virginia 3 6 Duke University 5 7 University of Kentucky 7 8 Pepperdine 15 9 Stanford University University of Florida 9 11 Mississippi State University California 8 13 University of Texas University of Illinois University of Mississippi University of San Diego University of Washington Auburn University Fresno State Texas A&M University Indiana University-Bloomington Texas Tech University University of Tulsa University of Tennessee University of Michigan 24 GEORGIA IN THE RANKINGS Date Team Spencer Doumbia Taboada Singh Pieters Johnson Spencer/ Doumbia/ Doumbia/ Doumbia/ Pieters/ Brasseaux Taboada Pasha Pieters Taboada Jan NR NR NR Jan X X X NR X X X X X NR NR Feb. 2 4 X X X NR X X X X X NR NR Feb. 7 4 X X X NR X X X X X NR NR Feb. 16 X NR 7 6 NR NR NR Feb X X X X X X X X X NR NR Feb NR 7 12 NR 54 NR March 6 6 X X X X X X X X X X NR March NR NR 31 March 20 March 27 April 3 April 10 April 17 April 24 April 30 May 29/June 6 X=team rankings only that week 2012 Dual Match Stats W L All Matches 13 1 Home 9 0 Away 2 0 Netural 2 1 SEC Matches 4 0 Home 2 0 Away 2 0 Neutral 0 0 vs. Ranked Opponents 11 1 No No No No No vs. Unranked Opponents 2 0 January 3 0 February 6 1 March 4 0 April 0 0 May 0 0 Sunday 3 1 Monday 2 0 Tuesday 1 0 Wednesday 0 0 Thursday 0 0 Friday 4 0 Saturday 3 0 Indoor 8 1 Outdoor 5 0 Winning Doubles 11 0 Losing Doubles 2 1 THE LAST TIME GEORGIA... Won at Home... 2/11/12 vs. Ole Miss, 4-3 Won on the Road...3/4/12 vs. Florida, 4-3 Won At Neutral Site... 2/18/12 vs. Florida, 4-2 Lost at Home... 4/16/11 vs. Tennessee, 4-3 Lost on the Road... 2/12/11 at Georgia Tech, 4-3 Lost At Neutral Site...2/19/12, vs. Southern Cal, 4-1 Earned a Shutout...2/17/12 vs. California, 4-0 Was Shutout...5/23/11 vs. Southern Cal (NCAA Championships), 4-0 Won the Doubles Point... 2/11/12 vs. Ole Miss, 4-3 Swept the Doubles Point...3/2/12 vs. South Carolina, 6-1 Lost the Doubles Point...2/9/12 vs. Mississippi State, 4-3 Recorded Back-to-Back Shutouts...1/21, 1/29, & 1/30/12 (Clemson, TCU, Virginia Tech) Held a 5-match win streak...2/27/12-3/11/12 (5 matches) Held a 10-match win streak...2/19/11-4/10/11 (14 matches) Held a 15-match win streak...2/4/07-2/16/08 (38 matches) Held a 20-match win streak...2/4/07-2/16/08 (38 matches) Held a 25-match win streak...2/4/07-2/16/08 (38 matches) Held a 30-match win streak...2/4/07-2/16/08 (38 matches) Held a 35-match win streak...2/4/07-2/16/08 (38 matches) Held a 40-match win streak...3/23/70-5/1/71 (47 matches) Held a 45-match win streak...3/23/70-5/1/71 (47 matches) MATCH CLINCHERS Sadio Doumbia: 3 (TCU, ETSU, South Carolina) Wil Spencer: 1 (Florida) Nathan Pasha: 3 (Cal, Florida, Furman) Ignacio Taboada: 3 (Clemson, Virginia Tech, Ga. Tech) Hernus Pieters: 2 (William & Mary, Ole Miss) KU Singh: 1 (Mississippi State)