March 25, 2012
ATLANTA – A three-set court three thriller for senior Dusan Miljevic was the deciding factor in the Georgia Tech men’s tennis team’s 4-3 victory over Maryland Sunday. Miljevic earned the 5-7, 6-2, 6-3 victory over Maryland’s Jesse Kiuru to help the Jackets to their third-straight victory, and a record of 8-7, 3-2 ACC in 2012.
Tech dropped the doubles point for the first time since Feb. 25 against Florida State. Kevin King and Juan Spir fell 8-5 at No. 1 doubles for just the second time this spring while Miljevic and Eduardo Segura battled at No. 3 doubles but fell in a tight match 8-6 as Maryland captured the first point of the day. No. 2 doubles went to a tiebreaker that Maryland won 7-1 to earn the sweep of doubles play and head into singles action with a 1-0 advantage.
“Maryland is a very good doubles team and they proved it again today,” said Head Coach Kenny Thorne. “I felt like we played well in doubles, we just couldn’t get over the hump in any of the matches. Credit goes to them for getting up 1-0. Credit also goes to our guys for getting out right away and fighting so hard in singles.”
King rebounded with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Maros Horny in the No. 1 singles slot, easily taking the straight-set victory for Tech’s first point of the day. At No. 2 singles, Vlad Stefan was too much for Juan Spir who fell 6-4, 6-4 to his Maryland opponent as the Terrapins regained the one point edge.
Sebastian Lopez demonstrated his power at the No. 6 singles with a quick 6-2, 6-1 victory over Andy Magee to even things up with Maryland at two-all.
Despite getting out to a 6-4 first set victory, Segura dropped set number two 6-3 to his Maryland opponent, Tommy Laine. Set three was all Laine as the Terp earned a 6-0 win and give Maryland the slight 3-2 lead.
Just a few minutes later, Juan Melian erased that lead and evened things up at three-all. This time it was Melian who forged the comeback dropping the first set 3-6 but responding with consecutive 6-3, 6-3 victories over John Collins.
It all came down to senior Miljevic on court three. Miljevic fell behind 0-1 after a tough 5-7 first set loss, but the senior kept it together battling and evening things up at 1-1 with a decisive 6-2 second set win. In the third set, Miljevic came out to a 4-1 lead and continued on for the 6-3 victory to give the Jackets the win.
“I couldn’t have been prouder of Dusan in the moment and being the hero. It was really cool and that is what I love about college tennis, matches like that when you are the last guy on the court and it comes down to your match. I couldn’t be prouder for him. Kevin [King] and Sebastian [Lopez] got off the court quickly with the wins and Juan Melian hanging in there after being down a set. Credit goes to what a fighter he is.”
The Jackets will be back in action on the road next weekend when they head to Chapel Hill and Durham first for a meeting with UNC on Friday at 3 p.m. Followed by a Saturday afternoon match at Duke starting at 1 p.m.
