March 14, 2010
ATLANTA – Junior Miguel Muguruza picked up a hard fought three-set victory to help the Georgia Tech Men’s Tennis team (9-3, 1-1 ACC) to a 4-3 victory over Miami (5-5, 0-3) Sunday afternoon at the Bill Moore Tennis Center.
Muguruza came out strong and won the first set 6-3 over Waylon Chin. The Hurricanes No. 4 player responded by taking the second set, 6-4. With a chance to clinch, Muguruza was able to get the win with a 6-3 mark in the third set.
“[Chin] was hitting some big shots but I had to scrap and just keep going,” Muguruza said. “Today was just a team effort. The guys fed off of each other and helped us get some momentum as a team. The crowd was also big factor.”
After splitting the doubles matches on court one and three, the Yellow Jackets tandem of Eliot Potvin and Dean O’Brien were unable to hold a 6-3 advantage, eventually falling to Keith Crowley and Hector Nieto, 9-8 (7-3) to give the Hurricanes a 1-0 lead.
“I told the guys it was important to win a tough match against a good team without winning the doubles point,” head coach Kenny Thorne said. “I do not like the scenario but it was just what our team needed. All six singles, from point one, fought their hearts out throughout the matches. No. 4 came through for us and that is all we can ask from them.”
Sophomore Kevin King put the Jackets on the board with a 6-1, 6-3 victory over Christian Blocker at No. 2 singles.
The Hurricanes responded with a singles victory of their own on court six, when David Simon outlasted O’Brien for a 7-5, 6-3 win. Tech’s Potvin would tie the score back at 2-2 with a 7-5, 6-3 win of his own over Crowley at the No. 3 position.
No. 5 Guillermo Gomez, who dropped the first set of his match, quickly recovered to give the Jackets their first lead of the day with a 5-7, 6-2, 6-2 win over Carl Sundberg at the top spot in the lineup.
With a 3-2 lead, Muguruza would clinch the match with his three-set victory.
The Yellow Jackets will enjoy some time off for Spring Break and then return to action with a road trip to Wake Forest on Saturday, March 27 and a match at NC State on Sunday, March 28. Both matches are scheduled to begin at 1 p.m.
-RamblinWreck.com-
