April 17, 2003

Oxford, Miss. – No. 12 South Carolina fell 4-1 to 22nd-ranked Georgia in its opening match of the SEC Championships on the University of Mississippi campus. The loss dropped USC out of the conference tournament and to a 17-7 overall record.

The Bulldogs won the doubles point when the No. 3 team of Stephan Timu and Will Glenn defeated USC’s tandem of Geraldo Knorr and Marcus Westman 8-6. All-SEC selection Seth Rose and teammate Carl Wermee notched the first win of doubles play with an 8-3 decision over Strahinja Bobusic and Raian Luchici at No. 2.

Marcus Westman rolled Georgia’s Timu for his season-best sixth-straight singles victory in straight sets at No. 3 singles. The Swede nearly recorded a shutout with a 6-1, 6-0 triumph.

Georgia won the remaining singles decisions, including a 6-4, 7-5 victory by sixth-ranked Bo Hodge over All-SEC selection Angelo Niculescu, ranked No. 56, at No. 1 singles.

USC will return to action during the weekend of May 9-11 with an NCAA Regional match. Site and opponent are to be determined. The Bulldogs advance to play second-seeded Vanderbilt on Thursday in Oxford.

No. 22 Georgia 4, No. 12 SOUTH CAROLINA 1

Doubles
No. 2: Seth Rose/Carl Wermee (USC) def. Stephan Timu/Will Glenn (UGA), 8-3
No. 1: #14 Nicolas Boeker/Bo Hodge (UGA) def. Angelo Niculescu/Tom Eklund (USC), 8-3
No. 3: Raian Luchici/Strahinja Bobusic (UGA) def. Geraldo Knorr/Marcus Westman (USC), 8-6
Georgia wins the doubles point, leads 1-0

Singles No. 2: #44 Nicolas Boeker (UGA) def. #47 Seth Rose (USC), 6-4, 6-2; Georgia 2-0
No. 3: Marcus Westman (USC) def. Stephan Timu (UGA), 6-1, 6-0; Georgia 2-1
No. 5: Jason Varela (UGA) def. Tom Eklund (USC), 6-4, 6-3; Georgia 3-1
*No. 1: #6 Bo Hodge (UGA) def. #56 Angelo Niculescu (USC), 6-4, 7-5; Georgia wins 4-1 No. 4: Carl Wermee (USC) vs. Strahinja Bobusic (UGA), 4-6, 3-0, susp.
No. 6: Ben Atkinson (USC) def. Raian Luchici (UGA), 6-2, 7-6 (4), susp.
* clinching win