March 13, 2011
Coral Gables, Fla. – Guillermo Gomez, Magin Ortiga and Dean O’Brien earned singles wins for Georgia Tech Sunday, but the 16th-ranked Yellow Jackets lost the doubles point and its first road match in the Atlantic Coast Conference, 4-3, to Miami at the Neil Schiff Tennis Center.
The loss ended the Jackets’ eight-match winning streak and left them 10-2 on the season and 1-1 in the ACC. The 32nd-ranked Hurricanes (8-3, 2-0 ACC) won their fifth straight match.
“Miami out fought us today,” said head coach Kenny Thorne. “They had a better attitude overall. It was a disappointing match not to win. We had numerous opportunities that we didn’t capitalize on. We can get beat but we can’t afford to get out fought. That’s what we do well.”
Tech played without junior Kevin King, who missed the match with an injury and left the Yellow Jackets without their No. 4 singles player and their top doubles team (along with Juan Spir), which is ranked 15th in the nation.
Eliot Potvin and Ryan Smith, normally Tech’s No. 2 doubles team, came up short at No. 1 doubles, falling 9-8 in a tiebreaker to Keith Crowley. Gomez and O’Brien, who had a 10-1 record at No. 3 doubles this year, were unable to win at the No. 2 position, falling 8-2 to Christian Blocker and Carl Sundberg. Spir teamed with Miguel Muguruza to defeat Santiago Nieto and Omar Ely, 8-4, at No. 3.
Waylon Chin defeated 50th-ranked Juan Spir in straight sets at No. 2 singles to extend the Hurricanes’ lead to 2-0, but the Yellow Jackets fought back to tie behind straight-set victories by the All-American Gomez at No. 1 singles and Ortiga at No. 4.
It went back-and-forth from there as Miami’s Keith Crowley got by Eliot Potvin at No. 3 singles in straight sets, and Tech got a three-set win from O’Brien at No. 5. Gabriel Flores clinched the match for the Hurricanes at No. 6 with a hard-fought, three-set thriller over Dusan Miljevic (7-6, 4-6, 7-5).
Tech is off for 12 days before hosting NC State and Wake Forest the weekend of March 25 and 27.
Tennis Match Results
Georgia Tech vs Miami
3/12/2011 at Coral Gables, Fla.
#32 Miami 4, #16 Georgia Tech 3
Singles competition
1. #16 Guillermo Gomez (GT) def. Christian Blocker (UM) 6-3, 6-4
2. Waylon Chin (UM) def. #50 Juan Spir (GT) 6-4, 6-2
3. Keith Crowley (UM) def. Eliot Potvin (GT) 6-2, 6-4
4. Magin Ortiga (GT) def. Carl Sundberg (UM) 6-3, 6-3
5. Dean O’Brien (GT) def. Eduardo Pavia (UM) 6-4, 3-6, 6-4
6. Gabriel Flores (UM) def. Dusan Miljevic (GT) 7-6 (8-6), 4-6, 7-5
Doubles competition
1. Keith Crowley/Waylon Chin (UM) def. Eliot Potvin/Ryan Smith (GT) 9-8 (7-1)
2. Christian Blocker/Carl Sundberg (UM) def. Guillermo Gomez/Dean O’Brien (GT) 8-2
3. Juan Spir/Miguel Muguruza (GT) def. Santiago Nieto/Omar Aly (UM) 8-4
Match Notes:
Georgia Tech 10-2, 1-1; National ranking #16
Miami 8-3, 2-0; National ranking #32
Order of finish: Doubles (2,3,1); Singles (2,1,4,3,5,6)
