Jan. 31, 2010

Results

ATHENS, Ga. -- Northwestern dropped its first round match of the ITA Kickoff to host No. 7 Georgia, 4-1, at the Lindsey Hopkins Indoor Facility Sunday afternoon. The ‘Cats will face No. 20 Miami (Fl.) Monday morning; the Hurricanes dropped their first round match to No. 28 UNC, 4-2.

This loss is NU’s first of the season, dropping the ‘Cats to 4-1. The Bulldogs improve their record home win streak to 64 matches, dating back to March 2005.

The Bulldogs jumped out to an early lead behind wins at No. 3 and No. 1 doubles. Bo Seal and Christian Vitulli defeated the freshman duo of Sidarth Balaji (Fairfax, Va./Fairfax) and Spencer Wolf (Coral Springs, Fla./Laurel Springs) at No. 3, 8-2.

Georgia clinched the doubles point behind an 8-3 Jamie Hunt and Nate Schnugg victory over NU’s Andrew McCarthy (Cincinnati, Ohio/Indian Hill) and Tobias Reitz (Reinbeck, Germany/Sachsenwaldschule Reinbeck).

No. 2 doubles was a hard-fought affair between Alex Sanborn (Houston, Texas/Kinkaid) and Joshua Graves (Milwaukee, Wis./Nicolet) and the UGA tandem of Javier Garrapiz and Drake Bernstein. The teams were even early, before the ‘Cats broke for a 5-3 advantage. The match was left unfinished with the ‘Cats up 6-3 when the point was decided.

During the break between doubles and singles, head coach Arvid Swan pulled junior Andrew McCarthy from the lineup. The move shifted all the players up a spot in the lineup.

With only four courts indoors, the teams played only the first four singles matches. Georgia took a 2-0 advantage with a win at No. 4 by No. 60 Drake Bernstein over Wolf. The Wildcat freshman kept it close at 3-all in the first set before Bernstein took three consecutive games for a 6-3 win. The Bulldog junior then took the second set, 6-2.

UGA took a 3-0 lead behind a 6-2, 6-1 victory by Jamie Hunt over NU’s Alex Sanborn at No. 3 singles.

At No. 2, Balaji took on No. 45 Javier Garrapiz, falling 6-3, 6-2 to give the Bulldogs the dual victory.

Down a set and a break, Wildcat Josh Graves fought back to even it at 4-all in the second set with UGA senior Nate Schnugg. Graves then forced a tiebreak, winning the set 8-6 in the breaker. The Wildcat sophomore then toughed out the match tiebreak, 10-8, to notch the victory.

This marks Graves’ second upset win in as many weeks after defeating Alabama’s No. 62 Saketh Myneni. Schnugg finished 2009 at No. 10 in the nation in singles, but missed part of the fall due to injury.

No. 5 and No. 6 singles were left unfinished, with the ‘Cats trailing by a set in each match.

The Wildcats face No. 20 Miami Monday morning at 9 a.m. CT. Live scoring will be available at georgiadogs.com.

#7 Georgia 4, #36 Northwestern 1

Singles:
1. Joshua Graves (NU) def. Nate Schnugg (UGA) 1-6, 7-6 (8-6), 1-0 (10-8)
2. #45 Javier Garrapiz (UGA) def. Sidarth Balaji (NU) 6-3, 6-2
3. Jamie Hunt (UGA) def. Alex Sanborn (NU) 6-2, 6-1
4. #60 Drake Bernstein (UGA) def. Spencer Wolf (NU) 6-3, 6-2
5. Bo Seal (UGA) vs. Mark Schanerman (NU) 6-2, unfinished
6. Christian Vitulli (UGA) vs. Eric Spector (NU) 6-2, unfinished

Doubles:
1. Jamie Hunt/Nate Schnugg (UGA) def. Tobias Reitz/Andrew McCarthy (NU) 8-3
2. Javier Garrapiz/Drake Bernstein (UGA) vs. Alex Sanborn/Joshua Graves (NU) 3-6, unfinished
3. Bo Seal/Christian Vitulli (UGA) def. Spencer Wolf/Sidarth Balaji (NU) 8-2

Order of finish: Doubles (3,1); Singles (4,3,2,1)