TENNIS / NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS : Leach Victory Propels USC Past Georgia for Title

USC won its second NCAA men’s tennis championship in the past three years with a 5-3 victory over Georgia on Tuesday before an NCAA record crowd of 5,435 at Athens, Ga.

Jon Leach provided USC with its key point. In the last singles match completed, he was facing match point against Craig Baskin at 4-5 in the third set of No. 4 singles. Leach fought back to force a tiebreaker and take the match, 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (7-5), tying the overall score, 3-3.

“He was so happy because he lost his match on that same court two years ago in the finals,” said USC Coach Dick Leach, Jon’s father. “This time he was able to do it. After he won, he told me, ‘Dad, I gave us the chance to maybe win in doubles.’ ”

The top-seeded Trojans (22-2) made the most of that chance. David Ekerot and Andras Lanyi teamed for a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Jamie Laschinger and Albin Polonyi at No. 2 doubles. USC then clinched the match when Kent Seton and Wayne Black teamed for a 7-5, 6-2 victory over Craig Baskin and Mike Sell at No. 3 doubles.

USC got its other points when Black, a sophomore from Zimbabwe and a member of that nation’s Davis Cup team, won his No. 3 singles match over Bobby Mariencheck, 6-4, 6-4, and freshman Adam Peterson, defeated Polonyi at No. 6 singles, 6-2, 6-2. Peterson did not lose a set during his four matches in the tournament.

“It was an unbelievable match,” Dick Leach said. “There were barking, screaming Georgia fans, cheering like mad on every point. They sounded like a USC-Notre Dame football crowd. For my kids to be able to deal with that is a real tribute. It’s the most amazing show I’ve ever seen in tennis.”

The title was USC’s 14th in men’s tennis, putting it one behind UCLA on the all-time list. The Trojans have won 67 men’s NCAA championships, the most of any school.

Third-seeded Georgia is 25-4.

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Cammie Foley of UCLA, the final player from a Southern California school remaining in the singles draw, was eliminated by fourth-seeded Heather Willens of Stanford, 6-3, 6-0, in a third-round match of the NCAA women’s tournament in Gainesville, Fla.