University of Tennessee Athletics
University of Tennessee
#1 Georgia
VOLS STRIKE EARLY BUT TOP-RANKED GEORGIA PREVAILS, 4-1
April 14, 2007 | Men's Tennis
April 14, 2007
2007 SEC Tournament Bracket in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
The Tennessee men's tennis team showed early that it was not intimidated by the nation's No. 1 ranked team, sweeping the doubles matches to take an early 1-0 lead, but Georgia proved to have too deep of a singles lineup Saturday night defeating the upstart Vols 4-1 at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex.
"We came into the match and gave ourselves a chance to win," head coach Sam Winterbotham said. "Winning the doublers point against Georgia is not something you can do unless you showed up ready to play. Georgia is just a great team and they were too good for us tonight. We'll see if we get another opportunity to play them in the SEC tournament."
Coming into tonight's match, Georgia (23-0, 11-0 SEC) had dominated the doubles point. The Bulldogs had won the point in all of its matches this season and had a record of 60-6 (.909) in dual-match doubles play. The Vols not only won the point but swept all three matches to clinch the point. Adam Hubble and Ben Rogers got the Vols started with an 8-5 win over Travis Helgeson and Matic Omerzel at the No. 2 position. Hubble and Rogers finish the regular season 11-1 at the No. 2 position.
Bo Hardegree and Davey Sandgren won at the No. 3 position to give UT the point. The UT tandem defeated Georgia's Ricardo Gonzalez and Jaime Hunt 9-8. The Georgia duo coming into the match was 18-1 record in dual-match play at the No. 3 position in the lineup. UT's Hardegree and Sandgren were playing just their second match together all season. Hardegree has made a seamless transition to tennis this spring. The former football player is 6-0 in doubles.
The Vols completed the sweep when juniors Bobby Cameron and Kaden Hensel defeated the nation's No. 1 team of Luis Flores and John Isner 9-8. Cameron and Hensel lost both of their doubles matches last weekend at the No. 1 position while Flores and Isner came into the match 31-1 on the season and riding an 19-match win streak but after falling behind 4-1, Cameron and Hensel fought back to end the top-ranked duo's win streak.
Georgia did not panic though and came out firing on all cylinders in the singles competition. Thirteenth-ranked Helgeson tied the match for Georgia with a 6-3, 6-0 win over Cameron at the No. 2 position. Omerzel, ranked 43rd in the nation, gave the Bulldogs the lead for good defeating Rogers 6-2, 6-2.
Flores, ranked 17th, put Georgia firmly in the driver's seat with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Sandgren at the No. 3 position. The nation's No. 1 ranked player Isner rebounded from only his second doubles defeat of the season to defeat Hensel at the No. 1 position 6-2, 7-6 to give Georgia the win. The match was called after Isner's win.
Tennessee finishes the regular season with a 15-6 record overall and 7-4 in the SEC. The Vols still do not know their seed for the tournament because inclement weather postponed other SEC tennis matches. UT will find out its seed and opponent on Sunday.
| No. 1 Georgia 4, No. 23 Tennessee 1 | |
| Singles | |
| 1. No. 1 John Isner (UGA) def. No. 33 Kaden Hensel (UT) | 6-2, 7-6 (8-6) |
| 2. No. 13 Travis Helgeson (UGA) def. No. 36 Bobby Cameron (UT) | 6-3, 6-0 |
| 3. No. 17 Luis Flores (UGA) def. No. 117 Davey Sandgren (UT) | 6-4, 6-2 |
| 4. No. 43 Matic Omerzel (UGA) def. Ben Rogers (UT) | 6-2, 6-2 |
| 5. No. 92 Nate Schnugg (UGA) led Kiril Tcherveniachki (UT) | 6-2, 1-2 |
| 6. Jamie Hunt (UGA) led Chris Racz (UT) | 6-3 |
| Order of Finish: 2,4,3,1 | |
| Doubles | |
| 1. No. 23 Cameron/Hensel (UT) def. No. 1 Flores/Isner (UGA) | 9-8(8) |
| 2. No. 46 Hubble/Rogers (UT) def. No. 13 Helgeson/Omerzel (UGA) | 8-5 |
| 3. Hardegree/Sandgren (UT) def. Gonzalez/Hunt (UGA) | 9-8(2) |
| Order of Finish: 2,3,1 | |
