Newspaper Page Text
Tlie Red and Black/Courtaide • Thursday, May 14, 1992* Page 3
Georgia’s power duo look to repeat victory in '92
By JOHN GIBSON
Associate Courtside Editor
The picture rests among one
of three white walls in Georgia
head coach Manuel Diaz’s office,
but the memory is one that may
never rest in the minds of Bobby
Mariencheck and Wade
McGuire.
Mariencheck leaps with arms
stretched out as if to climb a
magical vine into heaven;
McGuire, crippled by a black
knee brace, flashes an equally
divine smile draped with a gap
ing mouth and piercing stare as
he prepares to catch
Mariencheck in mid-air.
The picture was taken after
one of the duo’s doubles victories
in the NCAA Championships
last year. Diaz paired
Mariencheck and McGuire up in
hopes of forming a solid threat
at the No. 3 doubles position
during the tournament.
The duo, which had never
played together in a match,
wound up clinching Georgia’s
first round win over Miami and
also posted a win in the semifi
nal victory over California-
Berkely.
Surprisingly enough,
Mariencheck and McGuire re
ceived a last minute bid to the
NCAA doubles tournament after
Tennessee’s Brice Karsh and
Tim Jessup backed out of the
draw.
‘I thought the invitation was
some kind of sick joke,”
Mariencheck said.
‘I got home from school and
found a note from my dad on the
door saying we were in the tour
nament,” he said. ‘It was so
weird because we talked about
the tournament at dinner the
night before it started, but I
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never thought about actually
playing in it the next day.”
It didn’t take long for the
dream to become reality, as
Mariencheck and McGuire
quickly found themselves suit
ing up for the tournament the
day after Georgia’s loss to
Southern California in the
NCAA team championship final.
The duo wound up advancing
to the semifinals before bowing
to eventual champions Matt
Lucena and Bent Ove-Pederson
of California-Berkely. They
earned All-American honors for
their performance, along the
way to becoming one of the
biggest surprises in the tourna
ment
Their picture now looms
along side of Georgia legends
Allen Miller, A1 Parker and
Mikael Pemfors in Diaz’s office.
‘It’s a great feeling to know
that you’ll be remembered with
legends like them,” McGuire
said. “But Til always cherish the
honor of having the chance to
play for this program, regardless
of whether or not we win the
tournament”
Indeed it is an honor, but the
10th ranked underclassmen,
who still have another year to
play together, proved last fall
that they are ready to add a cou
ple more winning pictures and
trophies to the wall.
The tandem rolled up a 14-2
record en route to capturing ti
tles at the Clemson Classic and
Southern Collegiates. Midterm
exams forced them to withdraw
from the Volvo Championships,
but they still entered the 1992
season ranked No. 13.
The dual match slate proved
equally rewarding, as the duo
lost only three matches to lead
McGuire and Mariencheck
the Bulldogs to the SEC regular
season title. One of those losses,
the last time the two played a
doubles match, came when
Mariencheck sprained his ankle
and was forced to retire one
game away from another victory
in an April 5 win over Miami.
Mariencheck returned to play
in Georgia’s final five matches
at No. 2 and 3 singles. However,
Diaz shrugs off the hint that the
six-week lay-off may harm
Mariencheck and McGuire’s
strength at No. 1 doubles.
“They are two emotional play
ers who play better in front of
big crowds,” Diaz said. “They
proved that last year.”
"There’s not too many players
I know that could go as far as
they did after playing together
in two matches before,” he said.
“Even with the lay-off, they will
be one of the toughest doubles
teams to beat"
The duo plays a style that
combines tactics that have
proven time and time again why
they may in fact be one of the
toughest teams in college tennis.
McGuire attacks with a rocket
like serve and lies back to re
turn any lob shots, while
Mariencheck constantly hawks
the net, awaiting to smash any
short shots near him.
But perhaps the most impor
tant reason why the tandem has
been so successful is the mental
ity Mariencheck says they carry
into each match.
“When you’ve got two guys
who think they can run through
brick walls and wind up actually
doing it, then you know therels
no obstacle too big to overcome,”
Mariencheck said. “If you don’t
think you can win, then you
don’t have any business being
out there.”
Whatever the reason may be,
McGuire says there is no real
way to prepare for a tournament
as grueling as the NCAA’s 10-
day slate.
But with play like
Mariencheck’s and McGuire’s, it
doesn’t take a rocket scientist to
figure out that this tandem will
certainly creep on to the walls in
Diaz’s office at least one more
time in the next two years.
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