NCAA Men's Tennis Championship Match - Notes & Quotes
June 21, 1999 | Men's Tennis
MATCH NOTES
With the victory, Georgia takes its first title since 1987...the last time a No. 1 seed lost in the final was 1996, when UCLA fell to No. 2 Stanford 4-1...Georgia is now 3-5 in finals, including three consecutive appearances...Georgia is finishes the year 20-0 when winning the doubles point and takes the doubles point in the final for the first time since the format was changed in 1994...Georgia has beaten UCLA in each of its three title-winning matches...UCLA is now 3-6 in NCAA finals, losing 4-1 to Stanford in 1996 in its last appearance
QUOTES
UCLA head coach Billy Martin
"We had a match point in the second set at number six singles. That would have probably put us over the edge had we won that."
"We had our chances. We didn't play extremely well in doubles but we fought back yesterday."
"The crowd helps a little bit. Fatigue was setting in somewhat. The crowd helps with that."
UCLA No. 1 singles player Jean-Noel Grinda
"I don't think we ever lost until today when we lost the doubles point. It happened at Indoors and against USC, and then yesterday. But we always fought back."
"The crowd wasn't as much of a factor in singles as they were in doubles."
UCLA No. 2 singles player Zack Fleishman
"Georgia plays so much to their crowd. You can see it. They get fired up, even if it's only the first point of the match. We played too many matches to let that affect us, though."
"I tried to play a smart match. I knew I had to be patient because he's such a tough grinder. He has such a unique game. You never play anyone like him."
Georgia head coach Manuel Diaz
"I'm really pretty speechless after that. We fought a good fight. After we won the doubles point, we did everything right and played with a lot of composure. We didn't break and we didn't show any doubts. My hat's really off to this club. We weren't picked to win the conference, let alone the national championship. We may not be the No. 1 team next week, but this week we proved it."
Georgia No. 4 singles Joey Pitts
"I was just trying to stay focused on the match, keep playing to win, keep moving forward, keep doing what got me to that point. I was having a blast. It was a lot of fun. I wasn't really that focused on the crowd. I'm sure they were going nuts, but I guess you could say I was in a zone."