Miami Drops 4-3 Heartbreaker against No. 31 Georgia Tech

ROME, Ga. – In a match that came down to the wire, the University of Miami men’s tennis team suffered a heartbreaking defeat Thursday afternoon at the ACC Championship.

Coming back from being down 2-0, the No. 43 Hurricanes (8-10, 4-5 ACC) took a 3-2 lead over No. 31 Georgia Tech, but were unable to seal the deal at the Rome Tennis Center at Berry College.

In doubles, the Yellow Jackets (13-8, 6-6 ACC) earned a 6-2 win on court 1 when No. 50 Marcus McDaniel and Andres Martin topped No. 27 Benjamin Hannestad and Franco Aubone.

Later, Bojan Jankulovski and Stefan Milicevic evened the tally with a 6-4 triumph over Chen Dong and Keshav Chopra. However, in the deciding match Pablo Schelcher and Brandon Freestone squeaked out a 7-6 (7-1) win over Adria Soriano Barrera and Oren Vasser.

Following doubles, the Hurricanes caught fire winning five of the six opening sets.

Still, it was the Yellow Jackets who struck first when Dong outlasted Aubone, 6-3, 6-3 on court 2.

Cutting the deficit in half, Vasser was the first to get Miami on the board with a dominating, 6-2, 7-5, straight-set victory over McKinney.

Facing No. 20 McDaniel on court 1, No. 51 Soriano Barrera overcame a second set setback and forced a third-set tiebreaker, as he secured a hard-fought 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (7-5) ranked win.

Hannestad then gave Miami its first lead of the day when he bested Schelcher, 6-1, 6-7 (4-7), 6-1.

On court 2, Jankulovski went up against No. 38 Martin and cruised to a 6-2 opening set triumph. However, the Skopje, Macedonia, native was unable to hang on, coming up short, 6-2, 3-6, 4-6.

With all eyes on court 4, Milicevic came up short, 7-6 (7-4), 1-6, 4-6, against Chopra, as Georgia Tech claimed the 4-3 team victory.