May 24, 2012
Athens, Ga. – Georgia Tech’s Kevin King took a second-round loss in the NCAA Singles Championship Thursday, but he quickly shook it off and paired with doubles partner Juan Spir to capture a 7-6, 5-7, 6-2 win over Fresno State’s Francis Alacantara and Remi Boutillier Thursday evening in the NCAA Doubles Championship.
The third-seeded All-Americans advanced to the round of 16 where they will face Chris and Marcel Thiemann of Mississippi at 1 p.m. Friday. The Neimann pairing advanced by defeating Kyle Parker and Mickeal Trintignac of the College of Charleston, 3-6, 6-2, 6-4.
“They faced a little adversity early in the third set, then something clicked,” said Tech head coach Kenny Thorne. “They realized they were in the NCAA Tournament and they were going to have to make something happen. Once they did that, they began to play like they have all season.”
Neither team was able to break serve in the first set, but the Yellow Jackets made quick work of the Bulldog team in the tiebreaker, winning that 7-1 for a 7-6 first-set win. Alacantara and Boutillier got the match’s first service break in the second set, however, taking a 5-2 lead and holding on to even the match with a 7-5 win in the set.
Tech began the third set with a service break, gave it right back, but broke again in the fifth game to take a 3-2 lead and won out, 6-2. They improved to 22-4 this year and 71-25 for their Yellow Jacket career as a doubles team.
“They played a very good tiebreaker in the first set, which I thought would jump start them, but unfortunately it didn’t,” said Thorne. “They got down a break in the second set, but broke back at 5-3 and I thought that would jump start them. It didn’t really happen until the third set.”
Earlier in the day, King fell in straight sets (7-6, 6-4) to Ohio State’s Chase Buchanan in his second-round match in the NCAA Singles Championship. Tech’s women’s team of Jillian O’Neill and Alex Anghelescu also won Thursday over Maryland and advanced to a 2 p.m. match Friday against a team from Pepperdine.
