April 20, 2001

LEXINGTON, Ky. –
Despite the continued dominance by Gamecock senior Guillaume Legat at the No. 1 singles position, second-seeded Tennessee captured the doubles point and advanced to the SEC Men?s Tennis Championships semifinals with a 4-1 indoor victory over South Carolina in quarterfinal action Friday afternoon. The match, scheduled for outdoors, was moved inside due to rain in the Lexington area.
Legat, who had an impressive 9-1 dual-match record at the top slot in SEC action and who earned first team All-SEC honors earlier this week, took his No. 5 national ranking against the Vols? top player < 30th-ranked Mark Parsons. Legat won for the 11th time in 12 SEC matches this season with a 6-2, 6-0 pounding of Parsons. Unfortunately for the Gamecocks, Legat-s victory was the lone point scored by South Carolina Friday afternoon.

The day started with Tennessee earning the doubles point by a 2-0 tally. The Tennessee duo of Peter Handoyo and Mark Crews downed USC-s Seth Rose and David Nelson, 8-3, at No. 1, while the Gamecocks- Carl Wermee and Rodrigo Pacheco lost 8-2 at No. 3 doubles to Tennessee-s Mario Toledo and Simon Rea. The No. 2 doubles match was abandoned with USC-s Legat and Marcus Westman leading, 5-4.

Tennessee swept the No. 2, 3 and 4 singles positions in straight sets to clinch the 4-1 victory. At No. 2, Tennessee-s Peter Handoyo downed Rose, 6-1, 6-2, at No. 3, Tennessee-s Adam Carey defeated Westman, 6-0, 6-1, and at No. 4, Nelson was defeated by the Vols- Paul Podbury, 6-3, 6-2. The Nos. 5-6 singles matches were not played.

The loss ends the Gamecocks- regular season with Carolina now awaiting a berth in the NCAA Men-s Tennis Championships next month.

Tennessee 4, South Carolina 1

Singles
No. 1 – No. 5 Guillaume Legat (SC) d. Mark Parsons, 6-2, 6-0
No. 2 – No. 26 Peter Handoyo (UT) d. No. 98 Seth Rose, 6-1, 6-2
No. 3 – No. 60 Adam Carey (UT) d. Marcus Westman, 6-0, 6-1
No. 4 – No. 94 Paul Podbury (UT) d. David Nelson, 6-3, 6-2
No. 5 & No. 6 singles matches not played

Doubles
No. 1 – No. 45 Handoyo/Crews (UT) d. Rose/Nelson, 8-3
No. 2 – Legat/Westman (SC) vs. No. 18 Parsons/Carey, 5-4, abandoned
No. 3 – Toledo/Rea (UT) d. Wermee/Pacheco, 8-2