ATHENS — Nothing like a little Georgia-Georgia Tech rivalry to heat up the NCAA tournament as singles play began Wednesday.
As it turned out, both of Tech’s singles entrants drew Georgia opponents in their first-round draws. The Yellow Jackets earned a split as No. 24-ranked Kevin King upset Georgia’s No. 19-ranked KU Singh 7-6 (7-4), 6-4.
“Oh, yeah, it’s always a big rivalry,” King said of playing a Bulldog. “It’s nice to beat UGA and do it on their home courts in front of a lot of their fans. That was pretty cool.”
The Bulldogs later exacted revenge on the very same Court 3 at Henry Field Stadium. Georgia’s Wil Spencer defeated Tech’s Juan Spir 6-3, 6-0.
“It’s tough to get back and get the motivation rolling again since the team loss took a lot out of us,” said Spencer, referring to the Bulldogs’ quarterfinal loss to Pepperdine in the team tournament.
“But I’m still representing Georgia, so it’s good to go out there and play well. I want to make it as deep in the tournament as possible.”
Those were just two of 64 singles matches that were played between the men’s and women’s contingents gathered for the NCAA championships. In all, 67 colleges are represented in Athens this week as the doubles portion of the tournament gets underway Thursday.
Among them were three other UGA men, two UGA women, two Tech women and one women’s qualifier from Georgia State.
Georgia State sophomore Abigail Tere-Apisah, the first Panthers’ women’s tennis player to make the NCAA singles draw, made more history Wednesday. She defeated Katie Le of Santa Clara 7-6 (7-4), 5-7, 6-0 win to advance to the second round, where she will face Tennessee’s Kata Szekely at 10 a.m. Thursday.
Georgia got wins from Sadio Doumbia, 6-2, 6-4 over Kyle McMorrow of Washington, and Ignacio Taboada, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 over No. 17-ranked Mate Zsiga of Baylor. It was the 100th career victory for the senior Taboada, who came in ranked No. 52 in singles.
“It’s special,” said Taboada, who will play Kentucky’s Alex Musialek at 1 p.m. Thursday. “I was definitely thinking about it in the third set: ‘I’ve have a chance to get 100 here.’ It’s really special to me. Just a lot of hard work, and I couldn’t have done it without my coaches and team to push me to get it done.”
Georgia’s Hernus Pieters fell to No. 12-ranked Costin Paval of Oklahoma 6-3, 6-4, and both of UGA’s female entrants lost, including 2010 individual national champion Chelsey Gullickson.
Gullickson, ranked No. 8, lost to No. 26 Sabrina Santamaria of USC 6-3, 6-2. The Bulldogs’ Maho Kowase was unable to close out, with three match points in the second set and eventually lost to Aerial Ellis of Texas 6-1 in the third set.
Tech’s No. 11-ranked Jillian O’Neill was upset by 32nd-ranked Brynn Boren of Tennessee 7-6 (7-2), 3-6, 6-4. O’Neill will team with Alex Anghelescu in the doubles draw Thursday. King and Spir will do the same with the Tech men.
“Getting rest is important; get off your feet as much as possible,” said King, who must face Ohio State’s Chase Buchanan in singles Thursday. “Other than that, just focus on eating well and hydrating. That’s about it.”
The team portion of the tournament was completed at 12:54 a.m. Wednesday when the men’s weather-interrupted final between USC and Virginia was decided in a third-set tiebreaker. The Trojans’ 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (7-4) win by Yannick Hanfmann over Virginia’s Justin Shane at No. 5 singles gave USC its fourth consecutive men’s tennis title and 20th overall, according to school officials.
“I considered the possibility that it was going to end in the semis or the finals,” USC coach Peter Smith said. “You’re a coach and you think of different things, but once you are out there, it’s just about competing. ... Tradition lives on, and it’s unbelievable.”
Etc.
The NCAA announced an all-tournament team based on performances in the team tournament. Georgia’s Kate Fuller and Nadja Gilchrist made it as a doubles team.
About the Author
