Jan. 15, 2010
ATLANTA – The Georgia Tech men’s tennis team earned a hard-fought 5-2 win over UAB on Friday afternoon at the Bill Moore Tennis center in the team’s first match of the spring season.
With the win, the Jackets improved to 1-0 on the year, while UAB fell to 0-1.
“I thought overall we played solid,” said head coach Kenny Thorne. “I think it was a good, strong match for us to start off with.”
Tech captured the doubles point in a clean sweep, with the team of Juan Spir and Miguel Muguruza clinching the point with an 8-4 win over UAB’s David Zimmerman and Dan Cornei.
In the number two spot, Eliot Potvin and Dean O’Brien made quick work of UAB’s Daniel Moser and Tyrone Ewels in an 8-1 win, while at number one, Guillermo Gomez and Ryan Smith captured a tough 8-6 decision from UAB’s Alex Emery and Danny Manlow.
In singles, Gomez gave the Jackets a 2-0 lead with a 6-1, 6-1 straight set win over Cornei at number one singles. It was at this point that the Blazers mounted a comeback, as Manlow knocked off Spir at number two 7-5, 6-4 and Zimmerman won a three-set thriller (7-5, 4-6, 6-4), over Tech’s Dusan Miljevic at number three to not the match up a two points a apiece.
At number five singles, O’Brien gave the Jackets the momentum back with a 6-3. 6-2 victory over Tyrone Ewels to make it 3-2 in favor of Georgia Tech. From here, the Jackets never looked back, as Muguruza clinched the match with a straight set (6-3, 6-3) win of his own over Emery.
In the final match to be competed on the afternoon, Potivin recorded the last win of the day for the Jackets with a tough 6-1, 6-7 (6-8), 6-2 win over Moser.
“We had a tough go of it at number four, five and six singles,” continued Thorne. “I think Dean stopped their momentum a little bit and was able to get the momentum back in our favor. It was nice that he came out and took care of business. For Miguel to clinch it was a great thing for him.”
Georgia Tech returns to action on Sunday when it hosts a pair of matches. First, the Yellow Jackets will take on USC Upstate at 9 a.m. and will follow that up with a match against Georgia Southern at 2 p.m.
Tennis Match Results#47 Georgia Tech 5, UAB 2Jan 15, 2010 at Atlanta, Ga.
Singles competition:1. Guillermo Gomez (GT) def. Dan Cornei (UAB) 6-1, 6-12. Danny Manlow (UAB) def. Juan Spir (GT) 7-5, 6-43. David Zimmerman (UAB) def. Dusan Miljevic (GT) 7-5, 4-6, 6-44. Eliot Potvin (GT) def. Daniel Moser (UAB) 6-1, 6-7 (6-8), 6-25. Dean O'Brien (GT) def. Tyrone Ewels (UAB) 6-3, 6-26. Miguel Muguruza (GT) def. Alex Emery (UAB) 6-3, 6-3
Doubles competition: 1. Guillermo Gomez/Ryan Smith (GT) def. Alex Emery/Danny Manlow (UAB) 8-6 2. Eliot Potvin/Dean O’Brien (GT) def. Daniel Moser/Tyrone Ewels (UAB) 8-1 3. Juan Spir/Miguel Muguruza (GT) def. David Zimmerman/Dan Cornei (UAB) 8-4
Match Notes: UAB 0-1 Georgia Tech 1-0; National ranking #47 Order of finish: Doubles (2,3,1); Singles (1,2,3,5,6,4)
