The Red and Black

Issue date: 3/6/08 Section: Sports

Media Credit: LINDY DUGGER Senior Travis Helgeson gears up for a swift swing during a men's tennis match against William & Mary Wednesday at the Dan McGill Tennis Complex. The Bulldogs won 7-0, marking their 41st straight home match victory. [Click to enlarge]

If you want to win a collegiate tennis match, don't come to Athens. The odds are not in your favor.

The No. 3 Georgia men's tennis team (11-1, 2-0 SEC) won its 41st straight home match against No. 46 William & Mary (11-7) 7-0 on Wednesday.

Sophomore Christian Vitulli clinched the match for the Bulldogs and stayed undefeated at No. 4 singles after beating Keziel Juneau 6-2, 6-4.

"In singles we came out playing solid, nothing too aggressive, just enough to get our confidence up and we took it to them," Vitulli said. "When we play at home it feels so comfortable, and we have been playing with so much confidence and taking it to every team."

The last time Georgia lost at home was April 25, 2005. The Bulldogs lost to Florida 4-3.

"It doesn't really sink in because it's the standard here," senior Travis Helgeson said. "It's pretty unbelievable compared to a bunch of other schools and it's just you expect to win every match. The expectations are so high that it's kind of like you're going into every match expecting to win."

Helgeson made his first singles appearance since the Bulldogs played Ohio State at the ITA Team Indoors. Helgeson came back with a
strong performance, defeating Dominic Pagon 6-0, 6-3.

"It feels good to get back out here, especially being a senior in my last semester," Helgeson said. "I've [been] wanting to get out here as soon as possible."

Georgia won the doubles point with Nate Schnugg and Jamie Hunt's clincher over Alex Cojanu and Pagon 8-6. Schnugg and Hunt were down 6-4 before winning four straight games to give the Bulldogs the first point of the dual match.

Javier Garrapiz and Christian Vitulli captured the first doubles match 8-4 over Keziel Juneau and Richard Wardell.

While Schnugg played doubles, a minor hip flexor injury kept him out of the singles lineup.

However, Schnugg is expected to play this weekend against South Carolina and Florida.

With Schnugg out of the singles lineup, sophomore Jamie Hunt got his first career start at No. 1 singles and made the most of the opportunity, beating Cojanu 6-4, 6-1.

Freshman Garrapiz lengthened his personal winning streak to 11 matches in a row, upending Marwan Ramadan 6-1, 6-2.

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