Widom Makes Elite Eight

May 23, 2003

University of Miami men’s tennis player Todd Widom (Coral Springs, Fla.) qualified for the NCAA Men’s Tennis Championship’s “Elite 8” Friday when he defeated Seth Rose of South Carolina in straight sets 6-2, 6-4 at the University of Georgia in Athens.

“Todd got off to a really quick start taking the early advantage today, he continued to play very smart tennis to win this match,” said Bryan Getz.

Widom is the first Hurricane player to make the quarterfinal round since All-American Ivan Rodrigo in 1997.

Going into the match, Widom was ranked No. 21 according to the Intercollegiate Tennis Association. Rose was ranked No. 48.

In the quarterfinal match, Widom will face Bo Hodge of Georgia, ranked No. 4 by the ITA. Yesterday, Hodge defeated Michael Kogan of Tulane (ranked No. 11) 6-4, 4-6, 7-5. Hodge is a native of Athens, Ga., and will have a considerable home-court advantage going into the match.

“The match tomorrow will be a challenge, playing on center court it will be a packed house, Todd has to take the crowd out of the match early on to gain the advantage” said Getz. “This should be a really great matchup, Todd and Bo have known each other since playing together in juniors.”

Elite-eight play begins at 1 p.m. on Saturday.

Those wishing to follow the match live should go to www.georgiadogs.com and click on NCAA Men’s Tennis Championships at the top of the front page.

Results from the match will be posted on www.hurricanesports.com.