The eighth-ranked Georgia men’s tennis team kept its unbeaten SEC record intact with a 5-2 win over No. 47 Mississippi State Friday at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex.

Georgia is now 15-4 overall and 7-0 in league play, while Mississippi State fell to 8-8 and 1-5 in the SEC. The Bulldogs remained tied with Tennessee atop the SEC East while Florida is 6-0. Georgia is aiming for its 26th SEC regular season title and 33rd overall.

“We fought hard and did a good job in singles,” Georgia head coach Manuel Diaz said. “I’m proud of our guys.”

Mississippi State claimed the doubles point to take a 1-0 lead. Georgia’s 42nd-ranked tandem of Nate Schnugg and Jamie Hunt were first off the courts with an 8-3 win over Daniel Sanchez and Tanner Stump at No. 2. However, Mississippi State pulled even at No. 3 with an 8-5 comeback win by Chris Doerr and Louis Cant over Bo Seal and Christian Vitulli. Drake Bernstein and Javier Garrapiz played at No. 1 for the first time this season and jumped out to a 4-1 lead, but George Coupland and Artem Ilyushin rallied to win 8-6 to give Mississippi State the early advantage.

“We were playing great doubles early on,” Diaz said. “Then we lost 12 of the last 13 games and it was a little surreal. We were up one break at No. 3 and we were up two breaks at No. 1. But it wasn’t all our doing. We had a few bad breaks, but they earned it.”

Georgia bounced back in singles by winning five of the six matches. No. 86 Schnugg knotted the match at 1-1 as he rolled to a 6-1, 6-4 win over 125th-ranked Coupland at No. 2. Shortly following at No. 5, Vitulli stretched his winning streak to 11 matches with a 6-3, 6-1 win over Doerr.

Bernstein extended Georgia’s lead to 3-1 with a 6-2, 7-5 win over Antonio Lastre at No. 4, then Seal clinched the match for the Bulldogs at No. 6 with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Hrehan Hakeem.

Hunt gave Georgia its fifth point with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Ilyushin at No. 3, and at No. 1, No. 67 Cant rallied to beat 22nd-ranked Garrapiz in a super tiebreaker, 4-6, 6-2, 1-0(9).

Bernstein now has a team-leading 26 singles wins and is 9-2 in his last 11 matches. With his win in doubles, Schnugg is alone is second on Georgia’s all-time doubles wins list with 110 wins. The Medford, Ore., is also second all-time in school history with 234 total victories.

The Bulldogs, winners of 52 of their last 54 SEC regular season matches, will close out the regular season home slate Sunday at 1 p.m. against 16th-ranked Ole Miss. Georgia’s four seniors will be honored prior to the match.

Tennis Match Results
Mississippi State vs Georgia
Apr 02, 2010 at Athens, Ga.
(Dan Magill Tennis Complex)

#8 Georgia 5, #47 Mississippi State 2

Singles competition
1. #67 Louis Cant (MSU) def. #22 Javier Garrapiz (UGA) 4-6, 6-2, 1-0 (11-9)
2. #86 Nate Schnugg (UGA) def. #125 George Coupland (MSU) 6-1, 6-4
3. Jamie Hunt (UGA) def. Artem Ilyushin (MSU) 6-4, 6-2
4. Drake Bernstein (UGA) def. Antonio Lastre (MSU) 6-2, 7-5
5. Christian Vitulli (UGA) def. Chris Doerr (MSU) 6-3, 6-1
6. Bo Seal (UGA) def. Hrehan Hakeem (MSU) 6-4, 6-3

Doubles competition
1. George Coupland/Artem Ilyushin (MSU) def. Drake Bernstein/Javier Garrapiz (UGA) 8-6
2. #42 Jamie Hunt/Nate Schnugg (UGA) def. Daniel Sanchez/Tanner Stump (MSU) 8-3
3. Chris Doerr/Louis Cant (MSU) def. Bo Seal/Christian Vitulli (UGA) 8-5

Match Notes:
Mississippi State 8-8 (1-5 SEC); National ranking #47
Georgia 15-4 (7-0 SEC); National ranking #8
Order of finish: Doubles (2,3,1); Singles (2,5,4,6,3,1)
Official: Walt Williams  T-3:39  A-537

No. 13 Georgia Posts 4-3 Win

STARKEVILLE, MISS. – The 13th-ranked Georgia women’s tennis team posted a 4-3 win over 72nd-ranked Mississippi State Friday.

The Bulldogs (11-4) remained perfect in the Southeastern Conference at 7-0 while State dropped to 9-9 overall, 1-6 in the SEC. Georgia swept the doubles matches for the first team point and then won three singles contests for its latest win but not before State battled back to tie it at 3-all with a couple of impressive three-set comebacks. Georgia has never lost to State, holding a 32-0 mark in the series history.

In doubles, the 10th-ranked tandem of Nadja Gilchrist and Chelsey Gullickson blanked Radka Ferancova and Danielle Terpko 8-0. It was the 17th straight victory for the Bulldogs top duo. They are now 18-3 on the year. The team point was clinched at No. 2 when Cameron Ellis and Yvette Hyndman beat Natalia Mayuk and Olesya Tsigvintseva (MSU) 8-3. Georgia’s No. 3 duo of Lara Fakhoury and Naoko Ueshima made it a sweep with an 8-5 victory over Valeria Makarycheva and Maria Ryzhova.

In singles, Hyndman continued her strong SEC season with a 6-0,6-2 win over Mayuk at No. 3. She has won eight straight matches and improved to 7-0 in SEC action. Gullickson gave Georgia a 3-0 lead with a 6-1,6-2 win over Ferancova in the top spot in the lineup. Gullickson, who is ranked 10th nationally, ran her record to 21-6 overall including 12-3 at No. 1. Then, State mounted a comeback. Tsigivntseva upset 29th-ranked Gilchrist 3-6,6-1,6-2 at No. 2 for State’s first team point. Terpko defeated Fakhoury 6-2,7-5 at No. 6. State tied the overall match when Ryzhova outlasted Ellis at No. 5, winning 1-6,6-3,6-2. It snapped Ellis’ six-match winning streak. The match would be decided at No. 4 between a couple of seniors in Ueshima and Makarycheva.

Ueshima took the first set in a tight tiebreaker 9-7 and rallied back to take the second set 7-5 to lift Georgia past State 4-3. Ueshima has now clinched three Bulldogs victories this season including her second in the SEC. Last year, she led the team with eight match-clinching wins.

“Naoko came through with the match on the line, and we got key wins to from Chelsey and Yvette in singles and the doubles point turned out to be huge,” said Georgia coach Jeff Wallace. “I told them team that every match in the SEC is going to be a battle and you have to come out with your best each time out on the court. Hopefully, this will be a reminder of that because we started out strong in singles and then credit Mississippi State with fighting back and winning a few in three sets.”

Georgia wraps up its swing through the Magnolia State on Sunday with a 1 p.m. match against No. 35 Ole Miss (9-4, 3-3 SEC). On Friday, Ole Miss played host to #14 Tennessee.

#13 Georgia 4, #72 Miss. State 3
Doubles
1.       #10 Gilchrist/Gullickson (UGA) def. Ferancova/Terpko (MSU) 8-0
2.       Ellis/Hyndman (UGA) def. Mayuk/Tsigvintseva (MSU) 8-3
3.       Fakhoury/Ueshima (UGA) def. Makarycheva/Ryzhova (MSU) 8-5
Singles
1.       #10 Chelsey Gullickson (UGA) def. Radka Ferancova (MSU) 6-1,6-2
2.       Olesya Tsigivntseva (MSU) def. #29 Nadja Gilchrist (UGA) 3-6,6-1,6-2
3.       Yvette Hyndman (UGA) def. Natalia Mayuk (UGA) 6-0,6-2
4.       Naoko Ueshima (UGA) def. Valeriya Makarycheva (MSU) 7-6(7),7-5
5.       Mariia Ryzhova (MSU) def. Cameron Ellis (UGA) 1-6,6-3,6-2
6.       Danielle Terpko (MSU) def. Lara Fakhoury (UGA) 6-2,7-5
Order of Finish: Doubles (1,2,3); Singles (3,1,2,6,5,4)
Georgia (11-4, 7-0 SEC); MSU (9-8, 1-6 SEC)