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No. 12 Men's Tennis tops No. 4 Georgia, 4-2, advances to NCAA semifinals
05.17.2009 | Men's Tennis
May 17, 2009
COLLEGE STATION, Texas -- Resuming its match Sunday after a weather-induced suspension on Saturday, 12th-seeded Texas rallied from a 1-0 deficit behind a formidable singles rally and picked up the clinching win from junior Olivier Sajous on its way to a 4-2 win over two-time defending NCAA Champion Georgia in the quarterfinals of the 2009 NCAA Championships.
The win ends Georgia's 15-match winning streak at the NCAA Championships and gives Texas its first victory over Georgia since the 2000 season. In the teams' most recent meeting, Georgia defeated Texas by a 4-2 count in the 2008 NCAA Championship match in Tulsa, Okla.
Texas reaches the NCAA semifinals for a second straight year and the third time in the last four seasons. In Monday's semifinals, the Longhorns will take on eighth-seeded USC, who upset top-seeded and previously-unbeaten Virginia Sunday morning. The match is tentatively set for a 1 p.m. Central start in College Station.
Texas and Georgia took to the courts Sunday morning with the Bulldogs leading 1-0 before inclement weather halted play Saturday afternoon. Texas senior Miguel Reyes Varela, the NCAA Tournament singles wins leader among active Division I men's tennis players, tacked on his 13th career NCAA singles win as he dispatched Georgia's Borja Malo by a 6-2, 6-1 count at sixth singles to even the match at one. Reyes Varela led 3-2 when his match was restarted Sunday after Saturday's match suspension.
Junior Josh Zavala put Texas on top for good with his 6-4, 6-1 win over Georgia's Christian Vitulli at fifth singles. Zavala held a 3-2 first-set lead when his match resumed Sunday. The match at first singles featured a battle between two ITA top-20 players in Texas' 19th-ranked Dimitar Kutrovsky and Georgia's 12th-ranked Nate Schnugg.
With the match knotted at three-all at first serve Sunday, Schnugg held serve to go up 4-3 before Kutrovsky held to even the set at four. Kutrovsky broke Schnugg at love in the next service game for a 5-4 lead before holding serve in the next to take the set, 6-4.
Kutrovsky broke in the set for a 4-3 lead and held serve to assume a 5-3 lead. But, Schnugg held and broke Kutrovsky to even the set at five. Schnugg held serve to take a 6-5 lead, and Kutrovsky held once more to force a second-set tiebreaker. Kutrovsky took control from the start and took a 5-1 lead with a well-placed reflex volley at the net. Kutrovsky yielded one match point at 6-1, but Schnugg double-faulted on the next point to give Kutrovsky the win and Texas a 3-1 lead.
Georgia's Javier Garrapiz held a 3-1 lead over Texas' Ed Corrie at second singles when their match resumed Sunday, and Garrapiz went on to claim the first set, 6-4. Garrapiz broke Corrie early on in the second set and went on to a 6-3 second-set win to slice the Texas lead to 3-2, leaving matches remaining at the fourth and second slots.
Texas junior Olivier Sajous trailed Georgia's Josh Varela 6-5 in the first set, but Sajous broke Varela in the next game to push the set into a tiebreaker. Sajous trailed 5-2 in the tiebreaker before evening the tiebreaker at five. Sajous saved one set point at 6-5 and captured the next two points to nail down the tiebreak victory.
Varela raced out to a 3-0 lead in the second set, but Sajous held and broke Varela to cut the lead to 3-2. Sajous held to even the set at three and broke Varela again to take a 4-3 lead. Varela responded and broke Sajous to even the set at four and held serve to take a 5-4 lead. Sajous held and broke for a 6-5 lead, but Varela broke Sajous one more time to force the decisive tiebreaker.
Leading 4-3 in the tiebreaker, Sajous smacked a forehand winner down the sideline that Varela called out. But, the umpire overruled Varela to give Texas a 5-3 lead and assessed a point penalty to Varela for his third overruled call of the match. A Varela backhand winner cut the Texas lead to 6-4, but Varela sent a backhand beyond the baseline on the next point to give Sajous the tiebreaker and Texas a 4-2 win and a ticket to Monday's NCAA semifinals. Texas sophomore Kellen Damico led Georgia's Jamie Hunt in the third set by a 3-2 count when Sajous clinched the victory.
POST-MATCH QUOTES
Texas coach Michael Center
On defeating Georgia at the NCAA Championships: To beat a team like Georgia at the NCAA Championships is quite a deal for us. They've won back-to -back national titles and beat us last year in the NCAA finals. They have a great program, and even though they lost some key guys from last year, they seem to rally together and put it together again. So, to knock them out here was quite an accomplishment. They never give up. You know Georgia will keep competing until the very end.
But, I thought our guys were awesome today. The way we came out of the gate and put up those three points up on the board pretty quickly…that was exactly what we hoped to do. We had the pressure on them. and then Ollie (Olivier Sajous) came through to get that fourth point. It was a team effort today.
It's a great feeling to win and knock out a team that has been in the last three NCAA championship matches. That's a great feather in our cap for us to be the one to knock them out of this tournament. Our guys…I could sense they were coming around at our conference tournament. They really started to come together. We got a little healthier and had some good momentum coming into this tournament. We're competing better and that's the key at this point. You have to compete very hard for every point.
On having to come back the next day (after Saturday's match suspension) and win four singles matches: The doubles point was a tough one to lose. I really felt going into the doubles we had a great chance to win that doubles point, and we obviously did have a chance, as it turned out. You try to put that behind you as best as you can because it's one point. At this level, with one point and one shot, the momentum can change. You have to put it behind you and come back out and win four singles matches.
I told the guys that this was like a whole new match. The conditions were different today. You didn't have to worry about the heat. We were starting fresh. What happened yesterday was over. We had to win four singles matches. I felt today was a whole new match. We started that way today. It helped us in that regard to put that doubles behind us and have a fresh start.
On whether he was surprised to get the first three singles points so quickly: Yeah, I was surprised we got those points that quickly. I felt that Georgia pulled Drake Bernstein (at No. 5 singles) and put Christian Vitulli at No. 5 because Vitulli beat Josh last year at the ITA National Team Indoors. So, I felt like we had an edge at No. 6 with Miguel Reyes Varela at that spot. Miguel is very good, but he's just been hurt this year. I didn't know what to do with him in our lineup. He didn't even compete at our conference championships, so I just put him in there. But, he's moving and playing well. I felt he would be hard to beat there.
Josh Zavala had been playing well. I thought Dimitar (Kutrovsky) had a nice game to get at (Georgia's) Nate Schnugg. If he could return his serve and get him moving, I felt that we had a chance at that spot. Javier Garrapiz has lost about two matches, so I knew that would be a really tough match for us (at No. 2 singles) Josh Varela had only lost a couple of matches this year. So, I knew it would be tough to get to four points, but when we got to three that quickly, I felt that the pressure was on them. When Kellen Damico got that split at No. 3, we really had them in the corner. But, having them in the corner does not guarantee you a victory. You've got to get that last point, and my hat's off to Ollie for doing it.
On Sajous putting away the match at No. 4 singles: With his composure, that's something that he's worked hard on lately. At times, he has a tendency to get a little pouty on the court and hang his head too much. Every time I looked over at his court today, his body language was really good. I felt his fighting spirit was really good. As you could see, he has a lot of talent. He runs really well. He has explosive shots. When he's competing like that, he's tough to beat.
Texas junior Olivier Sajous
On rallying for the victory at #4 singles: I was down in the first-set tiebreaker, 5-2, but I tried not to think about that at all. I tried to stay focused and not think about weaknesses or mistakes and just fight for every ball. Coach Rubio did a lot to help me out. My mind went off-guard in the second set and went down three-love. Coach Rubio told me to stay focused and stay in my match, and I got it back to three-all. It was a great feeling. Emotionally, I was fired up at that point.
2009 NCAA Men's Tennis Championships (Quarterfinals)
No. 12 Texas 4, No. 4 Georgia 2,
Doubles - Order of Finish: 1, 2
1 #5 Hunt/Schnugg (UGA) def. #27 Corrie/Damico (UT) - 8-5
2 Malo/Vitulli (UGA) def. #60 Kutrovsky/Zavala (UT) - 9-8 (9)
3 Reyes Varela/Sajous (UT) def. Bernstein/Garrapiz (UGA) - 8-7, susp.
Singles - Order of Finish: 6, 5, 1, 2, 4
1 #19 Dimitar Kutrovsky (UT) def. #12 Nate Schnugg (UGA) - 6-4, 7-6 (2)
2 #62 Javier Garrapiz (UGA) def. #69 Ed Corrie (UT) - 6-4, 6-3
3 #80 Kellen Damico (UT) vs. #75 Jamie Hunt (UGA) - 4-6, 7-5, 3-2, susp.
4 Olivier Sajous (UT) def. Josh Varela (UGA) - 7-6 (6), 7-6 (4)
5 Josh Zavala (UT) def. Christian Vitulli (UGA) vs.- 6-4, 6-1
6 Miguel Reyes Varela (UT) def. Borja Malo (UGA) - 6-2, 6-1
