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The fourth-ranked Georgia men’s tennis team edged 15th-ranked Columbia, 4-3, in the first round of the ITA National Team Indoor Championships Friday at the Midtown Athletic Club.
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The fourth-seeded Bulldogs will face the No. 5 seed Illinois in the quarterfinals Saturday at 7:30 p.m. ET.
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Georgia (5-1) won the doubles point on Friday, then Columbia (2-1) won three of the first four completed singles matches to take a 3-2 lead. The Bulldogs, however, answered with wins at Nos. 2 and 4 to earn a spot in the quarterfinals. Austin Smith provided the clincher at No. 2.
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“I’m really proud of our guys,” said head coach Manuel Diaz. “We played a very good doubles point at Nos. 1 and 3, then in singles Columbia got two quick wins at Nos. 5 and 6 and really put us under a lot of pressure. I thought Winston Lin played as good of a match as he could at No. 1, and he was just absorbing any good shots that Wayne (Montgomery) made. Our boys showed tremendous composure and heart at the end. Nick (Wood) and Austin played tremendous tennis and got the job done. I’m proud of our team, but we have to be able to play better, and I know we are capable of that.”
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The Bulldogs utilized a new doubles lineup on Friday, including Smith and Ben Wagland at No. 1, Eric Diaz and Nathan Pasha at No. 2, and Wayne Montgomery and Paul Oosterbaan at No. 3. Montgomery and Oosterbaan were first to finish at No. 3 with a 6-1 win over Dragos Ignat and Bert Vancura, then the Lions responded with a win at No. 2. Smith and Wagland clinched the doubles point at No. 1 with a 6-3 win over the No. 12 ranked team of Ashok Narayana and Max Schnur.
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In singles, Vancura defeated Wagland 6-1, 6-3 to tie the match at 1-1, then No. 15 Pasha downed Schnur 6-4, 6-3 at No. 3 to put Georgia back on top. Columbia then won matches at Nos. 1 and 6 to claim its first lead of the night, but Nick Wood closed out a 1-6, 6-0, 6-2 victory over Narayana at No. 5 to make it 3-3, then at No. 2, Smith held a commanding lead in the final set when Columbia was assessed a point penalty and game penalty as Smith claimed the 6-4, 1-6, 6-2 win and his second clincher of the season.
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Georgia now has 72 wins all-time in the National Indoors, which is the third most of any team.
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The Bulldogs will take on host Illinois on Saturday night for a spot in the semifinals.
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Said Diaz: “I think our guys are going to be inspired by it. There’s nothing better than having a great crowd that cares about good, quality tennis, even it’s a partisan crowd against you. This is a great atmosphere to play in and we’re fortunate to be in it tomorrow.”