March 10, 2006

ATHENS, Ga. – The No. 31 University of South Carolina men’s tennis team fell to No. 1 Georgia, 7-0, in Southeastern Conference action Friday in Athens, Ga. The Bulldogs collected their 13th-straight win to remain perfect on the season and improve to 3-0 in league matches. The Gamecocks slipped to 8-7 overall and 1-2 in SEC matches with both losses coming to top-five opponents (also No. 5 Ole Miss).

Georgia claimed the doubles point to open the match, winning close battles at the two and three positions. USC’s Yevgeny Supeko and Pedro Rodrigues pushed the nation’s No. 9 doubles tandem of Strahinja Bobusic and Colin Purcell before falling, 9-7. At No. 3 doubles, Carolina’s Adam Adler and Thomas Stoddard took 55th-ranked Luis Flores and Matic Omerzel to the limit in an 8-6 loss.

Gamecock senior Tom Eklund proved to be a handful for the country’s top singles player, Georgia’s John Isner. Isner edged Eklund in a first-set tiebreaker to squeak out a 7-6 win, but Eklund battled back to take the second set in a tiebreaker. With Georgia having already clinched the match, the pair played a 10-point tiebreaker for the third set with Isner winning, 10-5.

USC went down 2-0 in the match after Rodrigues, trailing No. 49 Matic Omerzel, 5-4, in the first set, was forced to retire due to an injury at the No. 4 singles position. Georgia went on to claim straight-set wins in four of the five remaining singles matches.

South Carolina next travels to No. 55 Tennessee on Sunday for a 1 p.m. match.

#1 GEORGIA 7, #31 South Carolina 0Singles competition1. #1 John Isner (UGA) def. #115 Tom Eklund (USC) 7-6 (8-6), 6-7, 1-0 (10-5)2. #29 Luis Flores (UGA) def. #107 Jaime Cuellar (USC) 7-5, 6-13. Antonio Ruiz (UGA) def. Yevgeny Supeko (USC) 6-2, 6-34. #49 Matic Omerzel (UGA) def. Pedro Rodrigues (USC) 5-4, retired5. Colin Purcell (UGA) def. Adam Adler (USC) 6-1, 6-26. Ricardo Gonzalez (UGA) def. Thomas Stoddard (USC) 7-6, 6-4Doubles competition1. #7 John Isner/Antonio Ruiz (UGA) def. Jaime Cuellar/Tom Eklund (USC) 8-32. #9 Strahinja Bobusic/Colin Purcell (UGA) def. Pedro Rodrigues/Yevgeny Supeko (USC) 9-73. #55 Luis Flores/Matic Omerzel (UGA) def. Adam Adler/Thomas Stoddard (USC) 8-6