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 (16-1, 6-0) 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 W, 4-3 March 23 Arkansas* W, 7-0 March 25 at LSU* W, 4-3 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./Home Schooled 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 (16-1, 6-0) vs. #9 Kentucky (18-4, 6-0) Fri., March 30 5:00 p.m. Athens, Ga. Dan Magill Tennis Complex #3 Georgia (16-1, 6-0) vs. #38 Vanderbilt (7-9, 2-4) Sun., April 1 1:00 p.m. Athens, Ga. Dan Magill Tennis Complex TWO AT HOME: The No. 3 Georgia men s tennis team (16-1, 6-0) returns to action this weekend for a pair of SEC home matches, set to welcome No. 9 Kentucky and No. 38 Vanderbilt at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex. The Bulldogs - riding an eight-match winning streak for the second time this season - will entertain the Wildcats in a top-10 tilt on Friday night at 5 p.m. before taking on the Commodores on Sunday at 1 p.m. for Senior Day. The Kentucky match-up will pit the only two undefeated teams in the conference and the current league leaders against one another, with the potential for another close match as five of Georgia s last six matches have amounted to 4-3 victories. Live scoring and the Georgia Tennis Live Chat will be available on Georgiadogs.com for both matches, in addition to live video streaming of all six courts, while admission to the match is free for spectators. SENIOR DAY ON SUNDAY: Sunday s match will mark the final regular-season home match - and Senior Day - for the foursome of Sadio Doumbia, Wil Spencer, Will Reynolds, and Ignacio Taboada in addition to four-year team manager Matt Jackson. The trio of Doumbia, Spencer, and Taboada all joined the program for the season after transferring from other programs, while Reynolds is graduating a year early after entering in He is one of only two players on the current roster (Will Oliver) to have played in the NCAA Championships the last time they were played in Athens back in May LOOKING AT THE WILDCATS: Kentucky enters the weekend at 18-4 overall and 6-0 in the SEC, like the Bulldogs. The Wildcats are off to their best start to league play since going 8-0 to begin the 1988 season. At No. 9 in the team rankings, Kentucky is led in the singles rankings by No. 7 Eric Quigley. He is followed by No. 18 Alex Musialek, No. 22 Anthony Rossi, No. 91 Tom Jomby and No. 117 Panav Jha. In doubles, the team of Jha and Quigley is currently No. 17 in the ITA poll. Georgia is 39-7 all-time vs. Kentucky. LOOKING AT THE COMMODORES: Vanderbilt enters the weekend at 7-9 (2-4 SEC) and will play at Tennessee on Friday before traveling to Athens for Sunday s match. The Commodores are led by Charlie Jones (21), Gonzales Austin (19), and Jeff Offerdahl (18) in the win column. Rankings-wise, Vanderbilt stands at No. 38 as a team while Jones is currently No. 47 in the singles poll and the doubles team of Austin and Alex DiValerio is No. 56. Georgia is 46-4 all-time vs. Vanderbilt. The Commodores assistant coach - now in his second season - is former Bulldog and two-time NCAA champion at Georgia, Jamie @CoachMannyDiaz Facebook.com/UGAMensTennis Match #18 Match #19

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 (.827) 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 LAST TIME OUT: The Georgia men s tennis team won its SEC-best eighth straight match last Sunday, defeating LSU 4-3 in Baton Rouge to complete a 3-0 week that started with last Wednesday s upset of No. 2 Ohio State in Athens. Georgia moved to 16-1 overall and 6-0 in the SEC heading into Friday night s meeting with the league s only other unbeaten team Kentucky. Georgia was paced this week by freshman Nathan Pasha who went 5-0 on the week while senior Ignacio Taboada won his eighth straight singles match and moved to 16-1 in dual match play with his win vs. LSU. PASHA NAMED SEC ROOKIE OF THE WEEK (AGAIN): Georgia men s tennis rookie Nathan Pasha collected the second SEC Freshman of the Week honors of his career after winning four more matches last week, the league office announced Wednesday morning. Pasha s week was highlighted by a victory at No. 6 singles vs. second-ranked Ohio State last Wednesday that evened the team score at 3-3 before the Bulldogs went on to post the upset over the Buckeyes in Athens. Pasha who was also honored by the SEC back on Feb. 22 has already won 24 matches as a freshman, including a 13-1 dual match record, a 4-1 clip in the SEC, and two ranked wins. He has gone 10-1 at the No. 6 spot for Georgia, currently on a four-match winning streak in singles. Against Ohio State, Pasha defeated Connor Smith in three sets, after he had teamed with Sadio Doumbia to post a doubles victory as well. He and Doumbia are currently 5-1 in doubles action. Last weekend vs. Arkansas and LSU, the Atlanta native added two more wins to help the Bulldogs to their current eight-match winning streak overall and a 6-0 start to conference play. IN THE RANKINGS: Following a three-win week that included an upset over second-ranked Ohio State as well as wins over SEC rivals Arkansas and LSU, the Georgia men s tennis team (16-1, 6-0) rose one spot to No. 3 in the latest edition of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) weekly poll released late Tuesday. Three-time defending NCAA champion Southern Cal remained No. 1, while Ohio State stayed at No. 2 despite the loss to the Bulldogs. Georgia, Virginia, and UCLA rounded out the top five while Duke, Pepperdine, Stanford, Kentucky, and Mississippi State make up the rest of this week s top-10. The Bulldogs have now been inside the top five in eight of 10 polls in 2012, while the No. 3 ranking ties Georgia s highest mark of the season. Individually, Georgia has five players in the singles poll as well as five ranked doubles teams. Senior Wil Spencer continues to lead the way at No. 8 in the singles rankings, followed by Sadio Doumbia at No. 24, KU Singh at a career-high No. 32, Ignacio Taboada at No. 33, and Hernus Pieters at No. 62. In doubles, Georgia s team of Spencer and Garrett Brasseaux sits at No. 14 this week, followed by Doumbia and Taboada at No. 23, Pieters and Taboada at No. 34, Doumbia and Nathan Pasha at No. 59, and Doumbia and Pieters at No. 68. RECORD WATCH: Georgia senior captain Wil Spencer sits just three 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. Fellow senior Ignacio Taboada is also getting close to the milestone at for his career that included two seasons at the University of Miami and two at Georgia. 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. ISNER BEATS DJOKOVIC, REACHES TOP 10: Former Georgia men s tennis standout John Isner used a win over world No. 1 Novak Djokovic two weeks ago to promptly move into the top 10 of the ATP rankings for the first time in his career. The 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 the semifinals of the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells, 7-6, 3-6, 7-6, before falling to No. 3 Roger Federer in the 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 rejoin 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. 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

3 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: After concluding the home portion of the 2012 schedule this weekend, the Bulldogs will play their final three matches on the road - traveling to Alabama and Auburn next Friday and Sunday, respectively, before closing the regular season at Tennessee on Sat., April 14 at 1 p.m. in Knoxville. THE MANUEL DIAZ FILE 24th season (all at UGA) (.827) 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: 16-1 SEC: 6-0 Region: 3-0 Home: 11-0 Away: 3-0 Neutral: 2-1 Vs. Top 25: 7-1 vs. Last Singles Overall Dual Tour SEC Ranked Streak 10 Garrett Brasseaux L5 4-6 Eric Diaz W1 5-5 Sadio Doumbia L1 5-4 Campbell Johnson W2 7-3 Will Oliver W1 4-6 Nathan Pasha W4 9-1 Hernus Pieters W2 5-5 Will Reynolds L3 2-7 KU Singh L1 6-3 Wil Spencer L1 4-5 Ignacio Taboada W8 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 W2 6-4 Johnson/Reynolds L1 2-1 Doumbia/Pasha W2 7-3 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 W2 6-2 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 W, L W W W L W L W L 4 2 M23 Arkansas W, W W W W W W W W W 4 32 M25 LSU W, L L L W W W W W W 4 26 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 27, 2012) Rank Team Previous 1 University of Southern California 1 2 Ohio State University 2 3 University of Georgia 4 4 University of Virginia 3 5 UCLA 5 6 Duke University 6 7 Pepperdine 8 8 Stanford University 10 9 University of Kentucky 7 10 Mississippi State University University of Florida California 9 13 University of Texas University of Mississippi Auburn University University of Tennessee University of Illinois University of Tulsa University of San Diego Harvard University University of Oklahoma University of Washington Indiana University-Bloomington North Carolina Texas A&M University 22 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 4 X X X X X X X X X X X March NR 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 16 1 Home 11 0 Away 3 0 Netural 2 1 SEC Matches 6 0 Home 3 0 Away 3 0 Neutral 0 0 vs. Ranked Opponents 14 1 No No No No No vs. Unranked Opponents 2 0 January 3 0 February 6 1 March 7 0 April 0 0 May 0 0 Sunday 4 1 Monday 2 0 Tuesday 1 0 Wednesday 1 0 Thursday 0 0 Friday 5 0 Saturday 3 0 Indoor 8 1 Outdoor 8 0 Winning Doubles 13 0 Losing Doubles 3 1 THE LAST TIME GEORGIA... Won at Home...3/23/12 vs. Arkansas, 7-0 Won on the Road...3/25/12 at LSU, 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...3/23/12 vs. Arkansas, 7-0 Was Shutout...5/23/11 vs. Southern Cal (NCAA Championships), 4-0 Won the Doubles Point...3/25/12 at LSU, 4-3 Swept the Doubles Point...3/25/12 at LSU, 4-3 Lost the Doubles Point...3/21/12 vs. Ohio 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...2/27/12-3/25/12 (8 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: 5 (TCU, ETSU, South Carolina, OSU, Arkansas) Wil Spencer: 1 (Florida) Nathan Pasha: 3 (Cal, Florida, Furman) Ignacio Taboada: 3 (Clemson, Virginia Tech, Ga. Tech) Hernus Pieters: 3 (William & Mary, Ole Miss, LSU) KU Singh: 1 (Mississippi State)