Georgia Tennis Sends Two Into Quarterfinals of Elite ITA Masters
Georgia tennis continued its march through the fall season with opening round wins in Malibu at the Oracle/ITA Masters.
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It was a tale of two tournaments for Georgia tennis at the Oracle/ITA Masters in Malibu.
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Sophomore Wayne Montgomery slammed the top seeded player in the country, Axel Alvarez of Oklahoma, 6-4, 6-2 and Austin Smith beat the 14th ranked player in the country, North Carolina’s Ronnie Schneider, 5-7, 6-3, 6-2.
Said associate head coach Bo Hodge to Georgiadogs.com. “To get two wins against guys that caliber is impressive.”
Montgomery and Alvarez have competed three times now in the last 12 months. Montgomery defeated Alveraz in the 2014 Southern Intercollegiate Championships and Alvarez defeated Montgomery in the quarterfinals of the NCAA team tournament in May.
Montgomery, who won the 2015 Southern Intercollegiates on Monday, is off to a 6-0 start.
Hodge continued to Georgiadogs.com. “Wayne beat the No. 1 player in the country and someone who I know well from coaching him at Oklahoma the last three years. He stuck to the game plan, and it was great for him to get that win. The most impressive thing about Austin was the way he kept his composure. He lost seven deuce points and still won the match, and that was incredible.”
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In the elite tournament, the opening wins take Montgomery and Smith into the quarterfinals where the Dawgs join TCU as the only schools with two quarterfinalists.
It was a tough day for the top players at the Malibu Racquet Club as all four top single seeds lost.
Unfortunately, it was also a tough day for the number one ranked Dawgs at the top of the doubles draw as Georgia’s doubles team of Smith and Ben Wagland dropped their first round match, losing to Pepperdine’s Guilherme Hadlich and Gabriel Sidney 3-6, 7-5, 11-9.
Said Hodge: “It was disappointing to lose the doubles match. Austin and Ben were up a set and a break and had two match points. It’s tough to let those get away, but they’ll have a chance to bounce back tomorrow.”
Smith and Wagland will open consolation play with a match today.
Montgomery, the 16th ranked player in the country, will play Tulsa’s Dominik Koepfer in the quarterfinals. Smith, the 17th ranked player in the country, takes on Texas Tech’s Felipe Soares. Both matches start Saturday at 2 p.m. The winners will play again in the semifinals later in the day.
While it is early in the season, Montgomery and Smith can claim a spot in the biggest tournament of the fall as the Masters Champion receives an automatic bid to the USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championship.
Should Montgomery and Smith advance to the finals, they can be watched live on Sunday at 3:30 on the Tennis Channel.
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