[out_here_grindin]

mens tennis

This was a tough loss. But expected because Georgia is one of the teams who will be playing late in the year and vying for the title. We made a better showing this year than we did last year in Athens.

Doubles:

1: Maden/Rigsby def 8 Spencer/Brasseaux 8-4
Highlight of the day by far. This was a huge win for the tandem. Spencer and Brasseaux had just made the finals of the SEC indoors. Great win for Maden and Rigsby

UGA won the other two doubles 8-5 and 8-1 to take the doubles point.

singles(number=national rank):

1. 3 Will Spencer def 59 Yannick Maden 6-1 6-0
This was a lopsided affair. Maden was not clicking with his game. His game is all about consistent angles but the speed of the court surface was throwing him off all match. Spencer is just as consistent and has more firepower to end points. Bad matchup and bad court for Maden.

2. 10 Sadio Doumbia def Ayrton Wibowo 6-1 6-1
This was a battle of former Auburn-Montgomery(NAIA powerhouse) teammates. Doumbia has the classic flashy French game and a flairful backhand. Wibowo played well early and was able to work the points and set up a winning shot but then would miss the east shot. He was having issues with his grip and the balls continued to sail long. Doumbia never let up and showed why is a top 10 played in the nation.

3. KU Singh def Gerardo Meza 4-6 6-2 6-1
This was the best match of the day. Both players played very well in the 1st set. Meza was painting the lines with laser beam forehands and amazingly Singh was tracking down a lot of them. Meza used his forehand to win the first set. Singh then took his game up a notch. He was flying around the court and torquing his body to hit winners from any area of the court. Singh is a workhorse and could have probably played 4 more sets. His fitness proved to be the difference.

4. 26 Ignacio Taboada def Dom Maden 6-4 6-4
I did not see a lot of this match but the players traded games for the most part back and forth. Taboada is one of the nations most annoying personalities and it was a shame that Maden could not win a set.

5. 64 Hernus Pieters def Hunter Harrington 6-1 7-5
Harrington came out trying to play perfect and was making far too many errors. Pieters was steady and just allowed Harrington to make his errors. He settled down in the 2nd set however and played some good tennis. The 2nd set was even. Late in the set at 6-5, Harrington was able to stave off 5 match points with some big serves and an exquisite down the line slice winner. Pieters started to get flabbergasted by the amazing play Harrington was displayed on match points. The momentum would have took a big turn to Harrington had he been able to push the set to 6-all. But Pieters was able to find a way to win it.

6. Nathan Pasha def Cedric Willems 6-3 6-3
Pasha had his whole family watching the match in his first career dual match for Georgia for the Freshman. So Willems showed some good fight at parts of the match. He went away at 2-2 in the 1st set and allowed Pasha to win 3 straight games too easily. This was following an argument with the umpire which good the crowd more involved. Freshman mistake by Willems because it had been a pretty even match. In the end Pasha was the better shot maker.

It was a learning experience. Should not get too down because UGA will beat many teams like this throughout the season.

Next match is at #33 LSU. That is absolute must win match for NCAA tournament aspirations. It would go a long way to help our current ranking of 66

[Ozone]

Doesn't look like a terrible showing for the Tigers. I think Harrington will improve a lot, and it looks like you guys could maybe get a sneaky doubles point against better teams. That's what always separates the #20 team from the #5 team.

[out_here_grindin]

The doubles are looking pretty good this year. Rigsby plays great in doubles, he has a very quick overhead motion and on his serve, a lot of pop which is good for doubles.

Harrington was playing really well in the 2nd set. He just needs more experience, because he lacks a little confidence right now. Gerardo Meza is playing well early this year.