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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Georgia Ends Men's Tennis' Run In SEC Tournament
4/21/2001 | Men's Tennis
April 21, 2001
OXFORD, Miss. - The No. 9 nationally-ranked Ole Miss men's tennis team lost a hard-fought 4-0 decision to No. 2 Georgia in the semifinals of the SEC Tournament Saturday afternoon at the Hillary J. Boone Tennis Center. It marked their second consecutive appearance in the semifinals.
Ole Miss drops to 17-7 on the year and finishes third in the SEC. The Rebels will now wait to find out if they will get to host an NCAA regional, when the announcements are made May 3. Georgia improved to 21-1 overall and advances to play Tennessee in the final Sunday.
"I am proud of the guys for battling and giving a great effort," head coach Billy Chadwick said. "Georgia is possibly the best team in the country, and they played like it today. We finished third in the conference, and that is a significant accomplishment with all 12 teams ranked in the top 35 in the nation."
Georgia took a 1-0 lead in the match by claiming the doubles point. After an 8-3 win at No.1 doubles, the Bulldog duo of Bo Hodge and Brandon Wagner outlasted Rebels' Martin Selin and Paul Ciorascu 8-6 at No. 2 doubles for the point.
The Bulldogs won the first set in five of the six singles matches. Nicholas Boeker downed sophomore Patrick Chucri 6-2, 6-2 at No. 6 singles to give Georgia a 2-0 lead. Selin, who clinched the win over Kentucky on Friday, lost to Lesley Joseph 6-2, 6-4 at the No. 4 spot to make it 3-0 Georgia.
Ciorascu played Georgia's Wagner to a first-set tiebreaker, but the Bulldog would come away with a 7-5 win and the first set. Wagner held on in the second set, winning 6-4 to clinch the match for the Bulldogs.
On court one, ninth-ranked Alex Hartman dropped the first set to fourth-ranked Matias Boeker 6-2. He rebounded to win the second set 6-3 and led 3-1 in the third when the match was stopped. James Shortall lost the first set to sixth-ranked Hodge 6-4, and was battling in the second set when the match was clinched. Kristofer Stahlberg was serving for his match on court two against Travis Parrott, up 6-3 and 6-5 in the second set, when Wagner finished off Selin.
The Rebels defeated Kentucky in the quarterfinals to reach the semifinals. They won the doubles point and then claimed victories at No. 2, 3 and 4 singles to win their eighth straight over the homestanding Wildcats.
Hartman, Stalhberg and Shortall were honored prior to the start of the SEC Tournament, for making the All-SEC team. Hartman earned first team honors in singles, while Stahlberg and Shortall received second team accolades in singles and doubles.
#1 Seed Georgia 4#4 Seed Ole Miss 0
SINGLES#1 Matias Boeker (UGA) vs. Alex Hartman (UM) 6-2, 3-6, 1-3, sus.#2 Bo Hodge (UGA) vs. James Shortall (UM) 6-4, 4-5, Ab.#3 Travis Parrott (UGA) vs. Kristopher Stahlberg (UM) 3-6, 5-6, sus.#4 Lesley Joseph (UGA) def. Martin Selin (UM) 6-2, 6-4#5 Brandon Wagner (UGA) def. Paul Ciorascu (UM) 7-6 (5), 6-4#6 Nicholas Boeker (UGA) def. Patrick Chucri (UM) 6-2, 6-2DOUBLES#1 M. Boeker/Parrott (UGA) def. #16 Shortall/Stahlberg (UM) 8-3#2 Hodge/Wagner (UGA) def. Selin/Ciorascu (UM) 8-6#3 N. Boeker/Joseph (UGA) vs. Hartman/Chucri (UM) 7-7, sus.