University of Tennessee Athletics
Rea, Spizzo Eliminated at NCAA Doubles Championships
May 28, 2004 | Men's Tennis
May 28, 2004
TULSA, Okla. -- Tennessee men's tennis players Simon Rea and Damien Spizzo saw their nine-match unbeaten streak come to an end Friday in the round of 16 at the NCAA Division I Men's Doubles Championships at the University of Tulsa's Michael D. Case Tennis Center. The UT pairing was defeated 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 by the No. 15-ranked Old Dominion team of Zoltan Csanadi and Izak van der Merwe.
The loss officially brings Tennessee's 2004 season to an end, as Rea and Spizzo were the only Vols remaining at the NCAA individual championships.
The No. 9-ranked Vols' tandem won the first set 6-4, only to see the 2003 ITA National Indoor doubles finalists rally to capture the second set by a score of 6-3. Csanadi and van der Merwe broke serve early in the third set to take a 2-0 lead, and the pair then went on to win the deciding set 6-3 to advance to Saturday's quarterfinals.
"The boys lost a very tough match to one of the best two or three teams in the country [Friday]," Tennessee associate head coach Chris Mahony said. "The Old Dominion pair is a very big, very strong combination and has been one of the elite doubles teams in the country this whole season. However, we are still disappointed to lose this match.
"I felt that Damien (Spizzo) and Simon (Rea) played at a high standard, but they let a golden opportunity slip away after being up a set and a (service) break. Everybody's very disappointed that at this stage they fell just a couple of games short of earning All-America honors, but they still had an outstanding season."
NCAA doubles quarterfinalists automatically earn All-America standing. Although Rea and Spizzo failed to reach the quarterfinal round, they still have a shot at earning All-America status via their place in the final ITA rankings, which are released June 4.
Friday's match marked the final time Rea will compete for the Big Orange. The three-time All-Southeastern Conference honoree ends his career with an overall doubles record of 72-40, including a 28-17 SEC mark and an 18-13 record against ranked teams. The Auckland, New Zealand, native now looks to make a career on the professional tennis circuit.
Spizzo, a junior from Victoria, Australia, finishes his first season as a Vol with a 19-5 doubles record. His .792 doubles winning percentage ranked first on the team.
As a doubles team this spring, Rea and Spizzo earned first-team All-SEC honors. They posted an overall record of 12-5 and were an impressive 8-2 versus ranked opponents.
The NCAA doubles championships is contested under a best-of-three-set format, rather than the eight-game pro-set format used during regular season competition.
