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Bulldog Men Down Crimson Tide, 5-2
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. --- The
fourth-ranked Georgia men’s tennis team won the doubles point and never
looked back, downing Alabama by a 5-2 score Friday evening at the
Alabama Tennis Stadium in Tuscaloosa. The Bulldogs improve to 18-2
(8-1) on the season heading into Sunday’s match-up at No. 16 Auburn.
“We
got by today,” said head coach Manuel Diaz. “We’re not playing like the
No. 4 team in the country right now, and you could ask any of our guys
and they would tell you that. We fought well, fought hard today, but I
think the guys looked tired. I think we probably need to let up on them
a little and let them bounce back after this weekend – hopefully we’ll
play a good match at Auburn and then recharge our batteries. I think
the fact that we don’t have a Friday match next week will be good for
us. This wasn’t our prettiest tennis, but we competed hard like always
and we’re going to start playing well here soon.”
Georgia
claimed the doubles points as it earned wins on courts two and three to
take the lead early on. First, 59th-ranked Sadio Doumbia and Nathan
Pasha defeated Vikram Reddy and Carlos Taborga, 8-3, before the
Bulldogs wrapped it up on court No. 3 as Wil Spencer and KU Singh beat
David Vieyra and Filippos Tsangaridis in a tiebreaker, 9-8(5). Alabama
won on the final court, No. 1, as the team of Jarryd Botha and Ricky
Doverspike edged Hernus Pieters and Ignacio Taboada by an 8-6 score.
The
standout freshman Pasha continued to lock it down for the Bulldogs at
No. 6 singles, earning another quick victory as he defeated
Tsangaridis, 6-1, 6-4, to give Georgia the 2-0 advantage and improve
his dual match record to 16-1 with a current seven-match winning streak.
The
Crimson Tide got on the board with a win at No. 4, as Reddy bested
33rd-ranked Taboada, 6-4, 6-4 to make it 2-1. But Georgia bounced back
with a win at No. 2, as No. 32 Singh won 6-2, 7-6(3) over Botha to make
it 3-1 and leave the Bulldogs just one point shy of the clinch.
But Alabama made it 3-2 as Daniil Proskura defeated Doumbia, 7-6(5), 6-2 at No. 3, leaving just courts No. 1 and 5 still on.
Georgia
then earned the clinch from No. 5, where Pieters overcame a loss in the
first set to beat Vieyra, 3-6, 6-4, 6-0, and seal it for the Bulldogs
with the team score then 4-2. Georgia would make it 5-2 as Doverspike
retired to give Spencer the victory at No. 1 with the score 5-5 in the
third set. That leaves the senior just one win away from the 100th of
his career.
With the loss Alabama drops to 7-13 (1-8) on the season.
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