Jan. 27, 2005

ATHENS, Ga. - The fourth-ranked University of Georgia men's tennis team (1-0) will host Louisville (2-2) on Saturday, Jan. 29 at 1:00 p.m., at the Lindsey Hopkins Indoor Courts. This will mark just the second meeting between the two teams, with Georgia holding a 1-0 edge in the series.

Last season marked the first meeting of the Bulldogs and Cardinals, and saw Georgia take a 5-2 victory. After dropping the doubles point and giving Louisville a 1-0 lead, Georgia rallied back in the singles portion, winning five of six. Senior co-captain Matias Ormaza clinched the match with a 6-3, 7-6(5) win over Matt Mayer.

In Georgia's first dual-match of 2005, the squad beat William & Mary at home, 6-1. 18th-ranked sophomore John Isner won the match-clinching contest in three sets at No. 1 singles, while 53rd-ranked junior Antonio Ruiz (No. 2), sophomore Ricardo Gonzalez (No. 4), junior Colin Purcell (No. 5) and 35th-ranked Ormaza (No. 6) all won in straight sets. Doubles play resulted in a Bulldog sweep, as the 10th-ranked team of Isner and Ruiz (No. 1), the 25th-ranked duo of Purcell and junior co-captain Strahinja Bobusic (No. 2), and the team of Gonzalez and sophomore Matic Omerzel (No. 3) all recorded victories.

"We are looking forward to our second match," said head coach Manuel Diaz. "I believe our guys would like to take the next step and show that we can play at an even higher level. While we won our first match, we didn't feel as a team that we played our very best. Usually it is just first-match jitters, and now we feel that we are ready and looking forward to our next challenge. Even though we had a decisive win over William & Mary, we are excited to go out and play even better against Louisville."

Louisville is 2-2 on the season. The Cardinals opened the season with two consecutive 7-0 victories, downing Wright State and Murray State at home. They then hit the road, taking on Oklahoma State and Tulsa, falling by a score of 4-1 in both meetings.