NCAA Men’s Championships : Georgia Defeats No. 1-Ranked USC, 5-4, and Will Meet UCLA for the Title Today

Georgia’s No. 2 doubles team of Trey Carter and T.J. Middleton defeated USC’s Eric Amend and Luke Jensen, 7-5, 6-3, in the deciding match Monday to give the No. 4-seeded Bulldogs a 5-4 victory over the No. 1 Trojans in the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. tennis championship at the University of Georgia.

The victory moved Georgia into today’s final round against No. 6 UCLA, which defeated No. 10 Tennessee, 5-2.

USC’s Rick Leach, ranked No. 4, beat No. 5-ranked Philip Johnson, 6-1, 6-1, at No. 1 singles, then teamed with Scott Melville to defeat John Boytim and Stephen Enochs, 3-6, 6-4, 6-2, at No. 1 doubles.

Melville and Eric Amend also were singles winners for USC, while Enochs, Boytim and Mike Morrison won for Georgia.

UCLA Coach Glenn Bassett said he was “very surprised” to be in the finals.

“We didn’t have the spark all year long, but once we got here, we played really well together. That’s certainly the right time to peak.”

Shelby Cannon and Byron Talbot won the No. 1 and No. 2 singles matches for Tennessee, but UCLA’s Tim Trigueiro, Brett Greenwood, Patrick Galbraith and Brian Garrow swept the remaining singles.

Then Dan Nahirny, who lost the No. 1 singles, teamed with Greenwood to clinch the match by winning No. 3 doubles.