ATHENS, Ga. -- One of the greatest comebacks in the history of college tennis was derailed early Monday evening when third-seeded Georgia escaped the NCAA quarterfinals with a nail-biting 4-3 victory following an ankle sprain to Duke's Joel Spicher.
The Bulldogs, who built a seemingly commanding 3-0 lead, had Henry Feild Tennis Stadium in a frenzy after Bo Hodge and Chad Carlson both won their first sets against Duke's Ramsey Smith and Andres Pedroso at Nos. 2 and 4 singles, respectively. As Duke senior Marko Cerenko maintained control of his match at No. 3 singles, however, the momentum changed dramatically when Smith and Pedroso won their second sets and then secured early breaks of serve in their third sets. With Spicher, Duke's rock-steady and undefeated No. 5 player, leading Georgia's Travis Parrott by a set and a break in the second, the Blue Devils merely had to serve out matches on four courts to advance to their first ever Final Four.
But as Duke's three seniors moved closer to drawing the team even at 3-3, an untimely injury befell Spicher when he rolled over his left ankle before his service game at 3-2 in the second set. Spicher's injury restricted the sophomore to visibly painful movements, and he eventually succumbed 6-7 (6), 7-6 (6), 6-2, snapping his 14-match winning streak and propelling the Bulldogs to their fifth national semifinal in six years. The win was overwhelmingly Georgia's closest on its way to the team national championship, which the Bulldogs secured yesterday with a 4-1 win over eighth-seeded Tennessee in the NCAA finals.
"Obviously it was one of the better matches I think you can be involved in," Duke coach Jay Lapidus said. "Sometimes fate doesn't smile on you. It just wasn't meant to be."
Despite the heavy layer of tape around his left ankle, Spicher served out the two games after his injury to give him a 5-3 lead just as Pedroso closed out his match to tie Duke with Georgia.
In Parrott's subsequent service game, Georgia's lanky junior fought off two match points and then broke at love to square the second set at 5-5. Spicher never recovered and the closest he came to another match point occurred at 6-6 in the second-set tiebreaker, when Parrott forced a third set with a serve-volley combo into the open court, followed by a contested line call on set point.
"It's always tough to lose match points," said Spicher, who never gained even footing in the third set after relinquishing a break on a five-deuce service game that put Parrott up 2-1. "I'm not very happy, but you cannot do anything about it now."
After fighting off a break point in the sixth game of the final set, Parrott sealed the victory by capitalizing on Spicher's immobility behind a barrage of chip-and-charge returns and serve-volley combinations and even an occasional drop shot. When Parrott at last closed the match out with one last volley winner, he concluded a four-hour, 48-minute slugfest that began with Georgia cruising to victories at doubles and at Nos. 1 and 6 singles.
"I'm so proud of our team and I would have been equally proud if we had not gotten through this match," Georgia coach Manuel Diaz said. "Our guys played with a lot of heart and did everything within their power to fight off a very good Duke team. It took a super-human effort by Travis Parrott to fight exhaustion and dehydration."
For the Blue Devils, who had all of their championship hopes pinned on this season, the loss was even more bitter when coupled with the defeats of Stanford and UCLA, the draw's two clear-cut favorites. With both Pac-10 powers out of the way, a victory over Georgia would have made Duke the favorite both in a semifinal matchup against seventh-seeded Southern Methodist and in a possible championship showdown against the eight-seeded Vols.
"Joel had some bad luck with his ankle, but if it wasn't for that I think we'd still be playing today for a national championship," Cerenko said yesterday, several hours before Georgia and Tennessee squared off in the finals.
Instead, Duke failed to advance past the quarterfinals--the annual stumbling block where the Blue Devils have fallen each of the past three seasons--and now faces a rebuilding season after the graduation of Pedroso, Cerenko and Smith.
Meanwhile, rising sophomore Phillip King, who played No. 1 singles for Duke as a freshman this season, may forego his final three years of eligibility to play on the ATP pro tour. Last weekend, King said he will not make his decision until later this summer.
Notes: Duke's Dave Hagymas was honored yesterday as the Intercollegiate Tennis Association assistant coach of the year.... Duke's four top players will compete in this weekend's singles championships, while the team's top tandem of King and Smith will begin play in the doubles tournament today.
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