Feb. 25, 2012
Tallahassee, Fla. – Kevin King won his singles match in straight sets and teamed with Juan Spir for a win in doubles, but the 32nd-ranked Yellow Jackets were unable to score another point and fell to No. 31 Florida State, 6-1, in their Atlantic Coast Conference opener Saturday at the Scott Speicher Tennis Center.
Tech fell to 5-6 overall this season, while the Seminoles improved to 10-2 overall, 2-0 in the ACC.
King and Spir, the nation’s No. 2-ranked doubles team, opened with an 8-4 win over Blake Davis and Jordan Kelly-Houston at No. 1 doubles, but FSU rallied to win at the other two position and capture the doubles point. Anderson Reed and Dominic Cotrone downs Eduardo Segura and Sebastian Lopez, 8-5 at No. 2, and Andre Bucaro outlasted Juan Melian and Vikram Hundal, 8-6.
King, a senior from Peachtree City, Ga., and ranked No. 7 in the nation in singles, quickly evened the match for Tech with a 6-1, 6-2 win over Kelly-Houston at No. 1 singles, improving his spring record to 9-2. But the Yellow Jackets were unable to get wins in any of the other singles matches.
The Seminoles quickly took back the lead with Davis’ victory over Spir, ranked 88th, 6-1, 6-3, at No. 2, and Benjamin Lock easily defeated Lopez, 6-3, 6-1, at No. 6.
“FSU played well in doubles. Kevin and Juan did a good job rebounding after there loss last weekend,” said Tech head coach Kenny Thorne. “We got down a break midway through the other two doubles matches and weren’t able to break back. Kevin did an incredible job of getting the team back tied by winning quickly. But FSU got the momentum back by winning handily at No. 2 and No. 6. We needed to stay out there longer in those matches in order to win on the road.”
Jason Zafiros clinched the match for FSU with a 6-1, 7-5 win over Eduardo Segura at No. 5. Bucaro and Christian Gonzalez Mendez finished off the singles sweep with three-set wins over Dusan Miljevic and Juan Melian at No. 4 and 3, respectively.
“Juan Melian fought back into his match as did Dusan,” said Thorne. “Bottom line is that we have to have all 6 guys staying in their matches and finding ways to stay on the court longer. We need to give ourselves more opportunities for team points.”
Tech is off until next Sunday, Mar. 4, when it hosts Clemson.
No. 31 Florida State 6 def. No. 32 Georgia Tech 1
Doubles
1) No. 2 King/Spir (GT) def. Davis/Kelly-Houston (FSU) 8-4
2) Anderson Reed/Dominic Cotrone (FSU) def. Segura/Lopez (GT) 8-5
3) Bucaro/Lock (FSU) def. Melian/Vikram Hundal (GT) 8-6
Order of finish: 1, 2, 3
Singles
1) No. 7 Kevin King (GT) def. Jordan Kelly-Houston (FSU) 6-1, 6-2
2) Blake Davis (FSU) def. No. 88 Juan Spir (GT) 6-1, 6-3
3) Cristian Gonzalez Mendez (FSU) def. Juan Melian (GT) 6-4, 5-7, 1-0 (10-2)
4) Andres Bucaro (FSU) def. Dusan Miljevic (GT) 7-5, 0-6, 6-3
5) Jason Zafiros (FSU) def. Eduardo Segura (GT) 6-1, 7-5
6) Benjamin Lock (FSU) def. Sebastian Lopez (GT) 6-3, 6-1
Order of finish: 1, 2, 6, 5*, 4, 3
