North Carolina
Georgia
Tar Heel Men's Tennis Team Upsets No. 14 Georgia 5-2
February 14, 2004 | Men's Tennis
Feb. 14, 2004
ATHENS, GA. - For the second successive year, the North Carolina men's tennis team has pulled off an upset victory over a Georgia Bulldog team ranked in the Top 20 as Coach Sam Paul's 52nd ranked Tar Heels rallied with four singles wins to beat the 14th-ranked Bulldogs 5-2 Saturday afternoon in an indoor match at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex. A year ago, UNC defeated a Georgia team ranked No. 20 by a 5-2 score in Chapel Hill in a match in which all six singles matches went three sets.
Saturday was a near repeat of what happened in Chapel Hill a year ago as Carolina rallied to beat the Bulldogs and their lineup of three nationally-ranked singles players as the No. 1 through 4 singles matches all went to three sets and UNC claimed wins in three of them. Junior Geoff Boyd of Carolina ended up scoring the clinching point for UNC at No. 6 as he defeated the Bulldogs' Jason Varela, 6-4, 6-2.
Georgia started the match strong as the Bulldogs' claimed the doubles point with wins at No. 1 and No. 3. Ricardo Gonzalez and Stahinja Bobusic of Georgia defeated Andy Metzler and Jonathan Janda 8-4 at No. 3 and then nationally fifth-ranked Bo Hodge and John Isner downed Nick Monroe and Geoff Boyd of UNC 9-8 at No. 1, winning the tiebreaker 7-4. UNC finished doubles play with a win at No. 2 as sophomore Raian Luchici, a transfer from Georgia, and Brad Pomeroy, downed Matias Ormaza and Matic Omererzel 9-7.
Trailing 1-0 going into doubles, the Tar Heels began their rally. The Georgia indoor facility has only four courts so only No. 1-4 singles started at the same time and Georgia seized momentum as the Bulldogs won first sets at No. 1, No. 2 and No. 4 singles.
ut Carolina senior Andy Metzler got the Tar Heels on the board as he claimed his 10th successive singles win of the season, upsetting No. 54 ranked Matias Ormaza of the Bulldogs 3-6, 3-6, 6-3 at No. 2 to tie the match. Next off the court was Luchici at No. 4 as he rallied past Georgia's Omerzel to take a 2-6, 6-3, 7-5 win to give UNC a 2-1 lead.
Carolina senior Nick Monroe, ranked No. 23 nationally, then scored a huge win, as he rallied past Georgia's Bo Hodge at No. 1 singles. Hodge, ranked No. 6 nationally, won the first set 6-2 and led Monroe 4-2 in the second set but Monroe took the second set 7-5 and then won the match in the third set 7-6, claiming the tiebreaker 7-4. Monroe had a 3-0 lead in the third set but got the win in the tiebreak to score a huge point.
The Bulldogs remained alive at No. 97 ranked John Isner outlasted UNC sophomore Derek Porter at No. 3 singles by a 6-3, 6-7 (5-7), 6-2 score.
The No. 5 and 6 singles matches then went on the court and it was Boyd who sealed things with a decisive win over Jason Varela at No. 6 singles by a 6-4, 6-2 score. Boyd hails from nearby Atlanta. The No. 5 singles match was eventually won by UNC's Brad Pomeroy who outlasted Ricardo Gonzalez 6-7, 7-6, 1-0 (10-6).
UNC improved to 6-0 on the season with the win while Georgia falls to 2-1. The Tar Heels return home to play No. 57 Virginia Tech next Friday at 4 p.m. and No. 12 Virginia Commonwealth next Sunday at 4 p.m. at the Cone-Kenfield Tennis Center.
NO. 52 NORTH CAROLINA 5, NO. 14 GEORGIA 2
Doubles (team winning majority of matches wins one team point)
No. 1 #5 Bo Hodge / John Isner (GA) d. Nick Monroe / Geoff Boyd (NC), 9-8 (7-4)
No. 2 Raian Luchici / Brad Pomeroy (NC) d. Matias Ormaza /Matic Omerzel (GA), 9-7
No. 3 Ricardo Gonzalez / Stahinja Bobusic (GA) d. Andy Metzler / Jonathan Janda (NC), 8-4
Singles
No. 1 #23 Nick Monroe (NC) d. #6 Bo Hodge (GA), 2-6, 7-5, 7-6 (7-4)
No. 2 Andy Metzler (NC) d. #58 Matias Ormaza (GA), 6-3, 3-6, 6-3
No. 3 #97 John Izner (GA) d. Derek Porter (NC), 6-3, 6-7 (5-7), 6-2
No. 4 Raian Luchici (NC) d. Matic Omerzel (GA), 2-6, 6-3, 7-5
No. 5 Brad Pomeroy (NC) d. Ricardo Gonzalez (GA), 6-7 (5-7), 7-6 (7-5), 1-0 (10-6)
No. 6 Geoff Boyd (NC) d. Jason Varela (GA), 6-4, 6-2
Records: North Carolina 6-0. Georgia 2-1
Players Mentioned
