Tar Heels bounce Bulldogs from NCAA Championships

Georgia’s magical run at the NCAA Championships came to a bitter close Monday.

The Bulldogs' final match of the season turned into a wild finish, which included yet another weather delay – this time lasting four hours and two minutes. But in the end, North Carolina prevailed 4-3, with Bo Boyden defeating Robert Loeb 7-6 (0), 4-6, 6-3 to clinch a berth to the national championship.

The Tar Heels will face Virginia for the title. 

During the deciding match, Loeb broke Boyden in the third set before the rain delay, which occurred at 12:58 p.m. When play resumed at 5 p.m. inside the Lindsey Hopkins Indoor Courts, Loeb continued his strong play and took a 2-1 lead.

Boyden, however, responded by breaking Loeb to tie the match at 2-2. With Georgia and North Carolina tied at 3-3, all eyes were placed on the deciding point on Court 6. And the key moment occurred in the third set's eighth game.

Boyden led 40-15 and called a shot out. Loeb challenged and the umpire sided with Loeb. It was the second point the umpire overruled in the game, which gave Loeb an extra point. Therefore, the game went directly to deuce, which is no-ad in the college game.

But Boyden didn't let the setback bother him. He kept his composure and won the subsequent point to take a 5-3 lead in the final set.

"I was fortunate enough to break," Boyden said.

Boyden then held serve in the next game, giving the Tar Heels a semifinals win.

"I had the mentality of playing the match the way I wanted to play it," Loeb said. "It sucks right now but I played how I wanted to play. He just played better."

Early on, it looked like North Carolina (29-4) would take the match in a little less than three hours. But like it had in its previous two wins, Georgia (22-8) gave the Tar Heels everything they could handle in singles.

North Carolina took a 3-1 lead and had a great chance to win the dual match on Court 4. Simon Soendergaard, having won the first set against Georgia’s Jan Zielinski, took a 4-0 lead in the second-set tiebreaker and appeared poised to clinch for the match.

But Zielinski then reeled off seven consecutive points to take the tiebreaker and the set. Zielinski, up 2-1 in the third set before moving indoors, defeated Sendergaard 3-6, 7-6 (4), 6-3. To win, Zielinski returned a second serve down the line before pumping his fist to celebrate.

"I just tried to stay calm," Zielinski said. "It's a matter no of playing point by point by point. I'm not thinking about the past. I'm not thinking about being down 4-0."

Courts 2 and 3 proved to be too much for the Bulldogs. William Blumberg stormed past Wayne Montgomery 6-3, 6-2 to finish first at No. 2 singles and Robert Kelly bested Emil Reinberg 6-3, 6-4 at No. 3. After dropping the doubles point, it was evident the Bulldogs would need to win each match in "the pit" – Courts 4, 5 and 6 – and take one in the top three if they were to win.

Georgia freshman Nathan Ponwith played one the best matches of his season against North Carolina's Ronnie Schneider on Court 1. Ponwith fought off Schneider's thunderous first serve time and again before seizing control of the match. Ponwith expertly wore out Schneider by continuously moving him along the baseline.

Ponwith, who fell behind a break early in the first set, took the match 7-6 (4), 6-2.

Georgia's Walker Duncan defeated Jack Murray 6-1, 7-5 on Court 5.

The Bulldogs pulled off two upsets en route to reaching the national semifinals. On Thursday, Georgia beat rallied to beat USC 4-3 and then defeated UCLA 4-2 following a five-hour rain delay Saturday.

Georgia played a close doubles point but dropped it for the third consecutive tournament match. North Carolina's Soendergaard and Jack Murray defeated Reinberg and Ponwith 7-5 to clinch the point. North Carolina also got a win from Blumberg and Kelly, who upset Zielinski and Loeb on Court 1.

The Bulldogs' lone doubles win came on Court 3, with Montgomery and Duncan defeating Schneider and Anu Kodali.

While Georgia was able to overcome the doubles point losses against USC and UCLA, it proved costly against North Carolina.

"It gave us a lot of momentum going into singles," North Carolina head coach Sam Paul said.

Georgia ending its season in the Final Four showed a remarkable turnaround in a young team that featured zero seniors. The Bulldogs began the year 3-5, with a five-match losing streak during the indoor season. Included in that stretch were losses to USC, UCLA and North Carolina, the three opponents Georgia faced during the NCAA Championships.

The Bulldogs, winners of 19 of their final 22 games, were able to exact revenge against the Pac-12 opponents while coming up just short against the Tar Heels.

Given that everyone on the roster will return next season, Georgia head coach Manuel Diaz is confident in what he described as a young team that matured at the perfect time of the season.

"It's been a great ride," Diaz said. "The future is very bright."

This story was originally published May 22, 2017 at 5:45 PM with the headline "Tar Heels bounce Bulldogs from NCAA Championships."