MSU Netters Fall To No. 17 Georgia 5-2
STARKVILLE, Miss. -- Mississippi State's 29th-ranked men's tennis team suffered its first home loss of the 2004 season Friday, dropping a 5-2 decision to 17th-ranked Georgia on the MSU campus. The loss drops State's record to 7-4 overall, 2-1 in Southeastern Conference action. Georgia improved to 9-2, 2-1.
UGA gained the first point of the day, sweeping doubles action. After UGA won at the bottom two spots, State's pair of Luiz Carvalho and Jose-Carlos Pinto gave the nation's fifth-ranked duo of Bo Hodge and John Isner a big challenge at No. 1, but eventually fell in a tiebreaker 9-8(5). Hodge and Isner remained undefeated (10-0) in dual matches this season.
In singles, State's lineup took a tough break before things even got started, as senior all-American Romain Ambert withdrew after doubles, still nursing an ankle injury that has limited his movement significantly in the last few matches. But even without Ambert in the lineup, things were fairly close early on.
Georgia won the first set at the top two positions, and MSU at No. 6, but the teams would go to tiebreakers to decide the early advantage in the other three contests. UGA, however, would claim two of those three breakers to position itself for the victory.
The Bulldogs from Athens took a 2-0 lead when 49th-ranked Matias Ormaza completed a 7-6(6), 6-1 win over MSU's Max Fomine at the No. 3 position. Fomine actually held a 6-2 lead in the tiebreaker to decide the first frame before Ormaza rallied to claim it 8-6. Georgia went up 3-0 when the true freshman Isner remained unbeaten in singles this spring as well, notching his 10th dual match triumph against with a 6-3, 6-4 win over State's Carvalho at No. 2.
The match-clincher for UGA would come at the top spot, where the three-time, all-American Hodge, ranked 12th in the country, won 6-4, 6-4, despite a solid upset effort from MSU's Pinto.
MSU claimed two of the final three points of the day, one via default at the No. 5 spot, and the other coming from sophomore Florent Girod, who won 7-6(4), 4-6, 1-0(4) at the No. 4 position over Matic Omerzel. It was Girod's seventh win in his last eight contests.
State returns to action Sunday, hosting 27th-ranked Tennessee another important SEC battle. The Bulldogs and Volunteers will square off at 1 p.m. at the Pitts Tennis Centre. MSU will then close out its 2004 home schedule this Friday, March 26, hosting 24th-ranked Arkansas.
#17 GEORGIA 5, #29 MISSISSIPPI STATE 2
DOUBLES - #5 Bo Hodge/John Isner (UGA) def. Luiz Carvalho/Jose-Carlos Pinto (MSU) 9-8(5); Strahinja Bobusic (UGA) def. Matias Ormaza def. #49 Romain Ambert/Florent Girod (MSU) 8-5; Ricardo Gonzalez/Matic Omerzel (UGA) def. Matt Armstrong/Max Fomine (MSU) 8-4.
SINGLES - #12 Hodge (UGA) def. Pinto (MSU) 6-4, 6-4; Isner (UGA) def. Carvalho (MSU) 6-3, 6-4; #49 Ormaza (UGA) def. Fomine (MSU) 7-6(6), 6-1; Girod (MSU) def. Omerzel (UGA) 7-6(4), 4-6, 1-0(4); Arnaud Roussel (MSU) def. Bobusic (UGA) 6-7(3), 3-4, def.; Gonzalez (UGA) def. Romain Provenzano (MSU) 3-6, 7-6(0), 7-6(5).
(numbers preceding names are current national rankings)