University of Tennessee Athletics
University of Tennessee
#6 Georgia
Vols Lose to UGA in SEC Quarterfinals
April 17, 2015 | Men's Tennis
COLLEGE STATION, Texas -- After losing a close doubles point that came down to a 20-point tiebreaker, the Vols could not come back in singles in a 4-0 loss to top-seeded Georgia in the quarterfinals of the SEC Tournament.
The Vols (14-12), coming off a hard-fought 4-3 victory over Alabama, could not replicate the success Friday.
For the fifth consecutive meeting, the doubles point between Tennessee and Georgia (20-3) came down to a tiebreaker. After that, Georgia won four of six first sets and won three straight-set matches to clinch the victory.
"When we went into singles, I feel like the sting was taken out of our match a little bit after the doubles loss," Tennessee head coach Sam Winterbotham said. "We've got to do a better job of rebounding and trusting in each other that we can get four singles points regardless of who we play."
The NCAA selection show for the 64-team tournament is set for April 28. The Vols entered the weekend ranked 42nd.
The doubles point came down to a high-level match at the top of the lineup between Mikelis Libietis and Hunter Reese, currently ranked sixth, and the top-ranked team of Ben Wagland and Austin Smith.
Neither team had any break points before the match went to a tiebreaker.
Libietis and Reese got an early minibreak but lost three points in a row to face match points at 6-4. From there, but teams stayed on serve until Georgia got a return in off Libietis' second serve and hit a winner up the middle to win the tiebreaker 11-9.
"We had the two guys we wanted in that position," Winterbotham said. "They had their chances. It ultimately came down to that one point in the breaker. You've got to give Georgia a lot of credit. They stayed the course. Guys played that breaker well."
Libietis and freshman Luis Valero, the comeback hero from Thursday's second-round win, were the only Vols win win first sets on courts 1 and 4 respectively.
Georgia's points started falling into place. Nick Wood beat Andrew Dromsky 6-3, 6-3 on court 5, Paul Oosterbaan defeated Brandon Fickey 6-0, 6-3 on court 6 and Nathan Pasha beat Jack Schipanski 6-2, 6-2 on court 3. Dromsky and Fickey both made the starts at the bottom of the lineup after freshmen Igor Smelyanski and Jess Jones played their Thursday.
Georgia 4, Tennessee 0
Singles
1. #29 Austin Smith (UGA) vs. #15 Mikelis Libietis (UT) 6-7 (2-7), 2-1, unfinished
2. #28 Wayne Montgomery (UGA) vs. Hunter Reese (UT) 6-4, 4-2, unfinished
3. #26 Nathan Pasha (UGA) def. Jack Schipanski (UT) 6-2, 6-2
4. Ben Wagland (UGA) vs. Luis Valero (UT) 5-7, 1-1, unfinished
5. Nick Wood (UGA) def. Andrew Dromsky (UT) 6-3, 6-3
6. Paul Oosterbaan (UGA) def. Brandon Fickey (UT) 6-0, 6-3
Doubles
1. #1 Ben Wagland/Austin Smith (UGA) def. #6 Mikelis Libietis/Hunter Reese (UT) 7-6 (11-9)
2. Nathan Pasha/Paul Oosterbaan (UGA) def. Andrew Dromsky/Igo Smelyanski (UT) 6-2
3. Luis Valero/Jack Schipanski (UT) def. Wayne Montgomery/Nick Wood (UGA) 6-3
Order of finish: Doubles (2,3,1); Singles (5,6,3)
Players Mentioned
