Feb. 27, 2007
COLUMBIA, S.C. – The Georgia Tech men’s tennis team, ranked No. 52 by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association, fell to No. 51 South Carolina, 4-3, Tuesday at the Sam Daniel Tennis Facility on the campus of the University of South Carolina.
The Jackets opened competition with a pair of doubles wins for an early lead when Jordan DeLass and George Gvelesiani defeated Thomas Stoddard and Joseph Veeder, 8-3, at the No. 3 spot. The Yellow Jackets secured the point with an 8-2 victory from Luke Rassow-Kantor and Eric Molnar, who defeated Pedro Rodrigues and Ivan Cressoni at No. 2 doubles.
South Carolina tied the Jackets when Cressoni defeated Rassow-Kantor, 6-4, 6-0, at the No 4 singles spot but, Tech regained the lead when Jose Muguruza defeated Pedro Rodrigues at No. 1 singles, 6-0, 6-4.
The Gamecocks came back and tied the score at 2-2 when Yevgeny Supeko defeated Tech senior Zach Rath, 7-6, 6-2.
Scott Blackmon gave the Jackets another lead with his 7-5, 7-5 defeat of David Wolff in the No. 5 singles spot. Gvelesiani fell in the sixth spot to Spencer Feldman, 6-4, 6-4, knotting the match at three.
Tech’s hopes rested on DeLass facing Pedro Campos in the No. 2 singles spot. DeLass took the first set, 6-4, but Campos came back with a 6-4 win of his own in the second set. DeLass fell in the third set, 6-3 and the Gamecocks came away with the 4-3 win.
The loss was Tech’s second in a row and fifth this season. The Jackets fall to 6-26 all-time vs. the Gamecocks and have yet to defeat an SEC opponent in three tries this season.
The Jackets open Atlantic Coast Conference play when they host Florida State at 1 p.m. Sunday, March 4 at the Bill Moore Tennis Center. Admission to all Georgia Tech home matches is free.
SOUTH CAROLINA 4, GEORGIA TECH 3DoublesNo. 1 Supeko/Campos (USC) vs. Blackmon/Muguruza (GT), 4-4 unfinishedNo. 2 Molnar/Rassow-Kantor (GT) def. Rodrigues/Cressoni (USC), 8-2No. 3 DeLass/Gvelesiani (GT) def. Stoddard/Veeder (USC), 8-3Order of Finish: 3, 2SinglesNo. 1 Jose Muguruza (GT) def. Pedro Rodrigues (USC), 6-0, 6-4No. 2 Pedro Campos (USC) def. Jordan DeLass (GT), 4-6, 6-4, 6-3*No. 3 Yevgeny Supeko (USC) def. Zach Rath (GT), 7-6, 6-2No. 4 Ivan Cressoni (USC) def. Luke Rassow-Kantor (GT), 6-4, 6-0No. 5 Scott Blackmon (GT) def. David Wolff (USC), 7-5, 7-5No. 6 Spencer Feldman (USC) def. George Gvelesiani (GT), 6-4, 6-4Order of Finish: 4, 1, 3, 5, 6, 2* Clinched win.
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