With a sweep of the Iowa Hawkeyes on Sunday afternoon at the Lindsey Hopkins Indoor Courts, the Georgia men’s tennis team secured a spot in the championship match of the ITA Kick-Off.

 

“I think the team did great,” said associate head coach Jamie Hunt, who recorded his first victory as a member of the Georgia staff with the win. “It wasn’t our best performance in every single spot, but I think they performed well and tried to do the right thing. This was a good match to build on, and I am excited for tomorrow.”

 

After the Iowa duo of Joe Tyler and Jake Jacoby came back to defeat the Nathan Ponwith-Alex Diaz pair on court three, 6-3, Georgia (1-0) sealed the doubles point with two tiebreak victories.

 

On both the first and second courts, each match was knotted at every point until the tiebreak came into effect at 6-6. The seventh-ranked duo of sophomore Robert Loeb and junior Jan Zielinski matched Iowa’s win with one of their own, commanding a 7-3 tiebreaker, and the Walker Duncan-Wayne Montgomery tandem followed, taking the doubles point for Georgia with a 10-8 decision.

 

“I was very happy with the way doubles went,” Duncan said. “I was really happy we all got out there and did our thing, and ended up getting the doubles point, which is very important.

 

With the 1-0 Bulldog lead, Montgomery opened singles play for Georgia, easing by Iowa’s Josh Silverstein to a 6-1, 6-0 victory. Ponwith posted the 3-0 Georgia margin with a 6-3, 6-1 outing against Iowa’s Joe Tyler. On the fourth singles court, Zielinski fought to a 7-5 first-set win, before coming back from a 2-3 deficit in the second to clinch the match and send the Bulldogs to the championship match on Sunday.

 

In the first semifinal match of the ITA Kick-Off on Sunday morning, Memphis edged Arkansas 4-3. Georgia will face the Tigers on Morning afternoon in the championship match at 2 p.m. at the Lindsey Hopkins Indoor Courts. The only other meeting between the two teams came on Jan. 24, 2016 in the championship match of the ITA Kick-Off, which Georgia won, 4-1.

 

For live scoring and video for both the consolation match at 10 a.m. and the championship match at 2 p.m., CLICK HERE.

 

MEN’S TENNIS: ITA Kick-Off Weekend
Sunday, Jan. 28, 2018 Results
Lindsey Hopkins Indoor Courts
Athens, GA

 

Georgia defeats Iowa 4-0

 
Doubles (Order of Finish: 3, 1, 2)
 
#7 Loeb/Zielinski (UGA) def. Larsen/Allaf (IOWA) 7-6 (7-3)

Duncan/Montgomery (UGA) def. Davies/Smietana (IOWA) 7-6 (10-8)

Tyler/Jacoby (IOWA) def. (UGA) Diaz/Ponwith, 6-3

 

Singles (Order of Finish: (1, 3, 4)
 
#12 Wayne Montgomery (UGA) def. Josh Silverstein (IOWA) 6-1, 6-0

#25 Emil Reinberg (UGA) vs. Piotr Smietana (IOWA) 6-7 (2-7), 4-2 uf

#66 Nathan Ponwith (UGA) def. Joe Tyler (IOWA) 6-3, 6-1

#30 Jan Zielinski (UGA) def. Karrem Allaf (IOWA) 7-5, 6-3

#33 Walker Duncan (UGA) vs. Jonas Larsen (IOWA) 5-3, uf

Robert Loeb (UGA) vs. Will Davies (IOWA) 3-2, uf
 

Memphis defeats Arkansas 4-3

 
Doubles (Order of Finish: 3, 1, 2)
 
Sanjurjo/Mesquida (ARK) def. Lemke/Story (MU) 7-6 (11-9)

Salazar/Howard (ARK) def. Watson/Peniston (MU) 7-6 (9-7)

#58 Pallares/Rauch (MU) def. Terrell/Reco (ARK) 6-4

 

Singles (Order of Finish: 2, 4, 1, 3, 5, 6)
 
#113 Jose Salazar (ARK) def. Andrew Watson (MU) 6-4, 6-4

Ryan Peniston (MU) def. Adam Sanjurjo (ARK) 6-1, 6-2

Kai Lemke (MU) def. Oscar Mesquida (ARK) 4-6, 6-3, 6-3

Jan Pallares (MU) def. Josh Howard-Tripp (ARK) 6-4, 6-3

Alex Reco (ARK) def. Chris Patzanovsky (MU) 6-4, 6-3

Felix Rauch (MU) def. Pedro Alonso (ARK) 7-6 (9-7), 6-3