“I can’t say enough about our guys during this tournament,” said Georgia head coach Manuel Diaz. “They were relentless. I think that best describes them over the course of the past two days, facing two tough tests against LSU and Ole Miss. The Rebels are so good and so deep, they are very competitive and they challenged us, but we just didn’t give anything away. Our entire team came in ready to play just like we have done all year. We keep winning the doubles point and then if one or two of our guys can get a quick singles win, all of the sudden it becomes almost an insurmountable lead for our opponents to overcome and it really shifts all of the pressure to them.”
For the 25th time in 26 matches this year, Georgia won the doubles point to take a 1-0 lead. The 19th-ranked tandem of Omerzel and junior Travis Helgeson (Overland Park, Kan.) finished first, taking down Wellermann and Jonas Berg, 8-5, from the second position. The freshman duo of Jamie Hunt (San Antonio, Texas) and Nate Schnugg (Medford, Ore.) clinched the point with an 8-3 win at the third spot over Robbye Poole and Jakob Klaeson. The match at the first position was halted with the Georgia’s No.1-ranked duo of senior John Isner (Greensboro, N.C.) and junior Luis Flores (Xalapa, Mexico) trailing 27th-ranked Erling Tveit and Eric Claesson, 6-7, on serve.
In singles action, 89th-ranked Schnugg gave the Bulldogs a 2-0 edge as he topped Kalle Norberg at the fifth position, 6-3, 6-4. Just two points later, 12th-ranked Flores made it a 3-0 Georgia advantage with a 6-4, 6-3 victory over 98th-ranked Wellermann, setting Omerzel up for the clinch.
“This is really a great feeling,” said Omerzel. “I knew after our doubles win that I might be in the running for the MVP, but I had a very tough task ahead of me against Robbye, he had beaten me in the regular season. It was really a sweet moment to clinch. It is an unbelievable feeling to win the MVP as a senior in my last tournament. I think I started the tournament slowly against Mississippi State but I played really well against LSU. Today I may not have played the best tennis but it was the right kind of tennis needed to win the match.”
“Matic had one of the greatest performances over the course of this tournament that I can recall,” said Diaz. “When it comes tournament time, Omi brings it to another level of energy, just like we saw in last year’s NCAA Tournament. He takes it up a notch and he is a big reason for our success. His performance was similar in a lot of ways to Strahinja Bobusic in last year’s tournament. Stracky and Omi both had a sense that this was their time and their moment to shine. They put the team on their backs just like they did all year long and they set a great example for all of our young guys.”
When Georgia clinched the match, the remaining three matches were halted. At that time, Isner was trailing Tveit, 6-7, 5-5; Helgeson was leading Claesson 6-2, 3-6, 2-1 and Hunt had just split sets with Jonas Berg, 6-2, 3-6.
Georgia has now won its seventh SEC Tournament title to go along with its 24th regular-season SEC Championship. The Bulldogs have now won three of the last four SEC Tournaments: 2004 in Knoxville, Tenn.; 2006 in Tuscaloosa, Ala. and 2007 in Baton Rouge, La. Georgia’s seven tourney championships and 24 regular-season crowns are the most by any conference school.
The shutout was the 17th of the year for the Bulldogs.
The Bulldogs will be back in action May 11-13 for the first and second rounds of the NCAA Tournament. Tournament selections will be announced Tuesday, May 1, at 2:30 p.m. on ESPNNEWS. It is likely that Athens will be named a first and second round host site.
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