University of Tennessee Athletics
University of Tennessee
#15 South Carolina
Vols Defeat 15th-Ranked South Carolina, 4-1
March 13, 2009 | Men's Tennis
March 13, 2009
The sixth-ranked Tennessee men's tennis team moved into a tie for the SEC Eastern Division Friday afternoon defeating 15th-ranked South Carolina, 4-1 at the Goodfriend Indoor Tennis Center.
"We had good effort and focus from the team today, head coach Sam Winterbotham said. "South Carolina has an excellent program and to beat them in the fashion we did is impressive. That was a job well done for our team and now we need to turn our focus to a very talented Florida team."
The Vols (9-3, 2-1 SEC) won the doubles point for the first time in five matches to take a 1-0 lead. UT's ninth-ranked duo of Davey Sandgren and John-Patrick Smith defeated Diego Cubas and Ivan Machado, 8-4 at the No. 1 position. The Big Orange clinched the point when Boris Conkic and Matteo Fago won 9-8 at the No. 2 position over Pedro Campos and Ivan Cressoni.
The Gamecocks (12-2, 2-1 SEC) tied the match at one with a victory at the No. 4 singles position. But that would be South Carolina's lone highlight of the match as the Vols did not let the Gamecocks have anymore momentum.
Fago put the Vols up 2-1 with a 6-1, 6-3 victory over Jaime Cuellar at the No. 3 position. Fago is 10-0 this season in singles dual-match play and ups his career SEC regular season dual-match record to 14-0.
Conkic put the Vols on the cusp of victory with a 7-6, 6-1 win over Campos at the No. 2 position. It ups Conkic's career record to 10-3 in SEC play.
Junior Matt Brewer clinched the win for the Vols with a dominating, 6-2, 6-1 win over Johannes Pulsfort at the No. 5 position. The Knoxville native is now 5-3 this season in dual-match play.
Smith was ahead in the third set of his match at the No. 1 position when the match was clinched. Sophomore Jeremy Tweedt was tied in the first set of his match at the No. 6 position.
The Vols host eighth-ranked Florida Sunday at 1 p.m. The Gators (11-4, 2-1 SEC) fell to fourth-ranked Georgia, 4-3 on Friday. Tennessee, Georgia, Florida and South Carolina are now all tied for the lead in the Eastern Division. Sunday's winner between Florida and UT will stay in a tie for first with the winner of the South Carolina-Georgia match which is also taking place Sunday.
"With it being spring break a lot of the students are away and we really need the community to come out and support our team on Sunday," Winterbotham said. "We have two great programs battling away at one o'clock on Sunday and I urge all UT fans to come out and support our team."
All matches at UT are free to the public. Live scoring for those that cannot attend can be found at UTsports.com.
| No. 6 Tennessee 4, No. 15 South Carolina 1 | |
| Singles | |
| 1. No. 10 John-Patrick Smith (UT) led No. 64 Diego Cubas (USC) | 6-7, 6-4, 2-1 |
| 2. No. 38 Boris Conkic (UT) def. Pedro Campos (USC) | 7-6, 6-1 |
| 3. Matteo Fago (UT) def. Jaime Cuellar (USC) | 6-1, 6-3 |
| 4. Ivan Machado (USC) def. Davey Sandgren (UT) | 6-2, 6-3 |
| 5. Matt Brewer (UT) def. Johannes Pulsfort (USC) | 6-2, 6-1* |
| 6. Jeremy Tweedt (UT) tied No. 110 Ivan Cressoni (USC) | 5-5 |
| Order of Finish: 4,3,2,5 | |
| Doubles | |
| 1. No. 9 Sandgren/Smith (UT) def. Cubas/Machado (USC) | 8-4 |
| 2. Conkic/Fago (UT) def. Campos/Cressoni (USC) | 9-8 |
| 3. Cuellar/Pulsfort (USC) def. Hansen/Tweedt (UT) | 8-6 |
| Order of Finish: 1,3,2 | |
Players Mentioned
