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MTEN: UGA Opens Fall Play with the 56th Annual Southern Intercollegiate Championships
The Georgia men’s tennis team will begin fall play from September 13-15 with the 56th annual Southern Intercollegiate Championships at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex. The Bulldogs will face athletes from eight different NCAA Division 1 programs in a compass-style tournament format over the course of the weekend.
Friday, Sept. 13 – Sunday, Sept. 15
Daily Match Start Time: 9 a.m. ET
Tournament Central Page: https://georgiadogs.com/news/2024/9/6/2024-mens-tennis-southern-intercollegiates
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BULLDOGS BULLETIN
The First Serve: The 56th annual Southern Intercollegiate Championships this weekend will kick-off another much-anticipated campaign for the Bulldogs. Under the new leadership of head coach Jamie Hunt, Georgia men’s tennis will look to extend its storied history in search of a ninth NCAA team title.
The tournament will feature several ITA nationally-ranked players in both singles and doubles. A complete list is compiled below:
Singles
Columbia: No. 2 Michael Zheng, No. 48 Max Westphal, No. 74 Nicolas Kotzen and No. 98 Hugo Hashimoto
Arizona State: No. 21 Mathis Bondaz
South Carolina: No. 45 Casey Hoole, No. 65 Connor Thomson and No. 117 Jelani Sarr
Clemson: No. 51 Wissam Abderrahman
UNC-Wilmington: No. 76 Harold Heuns
Doubles
Clemson: No. 5 Maxwell Smith and Noa Vukadin
Columbia: No. 12 Nicolas Kotzen and Max Westphal, No. 21 Michael Zheng and Hugo Hashimoto
South Carolina: No. 24 Connor Thomson and Casey Hoole, No. 82 Lucas Andrade da Silva and Jelani Sarr
UNC-Wilmington: No. 40 Joseph Waynard and Harold Huens
Georgia Tech: No. 42 Nate Bonetto and Gabriele Brancatelli, No. 56 Richard Biagiotti and Krish Arora
Rank the Dawgs: Four Bulldogs were ranked in the top 100 of the preseason ITA singles rankings to begin the fall season. Thomas Paulsell leads the group with a career-best and team-high No. 14 position in the first edition. Ryan Colby settles in at No. 28 with Miguel Perez Peña and Oscar Pinto Sansano following just behind at No. 64 and No. 86, respectively.
In the doubles rankings, Freddy Blaydes and Niels Ratiu both earned a career-high ranking of No. 2. Paulsell and Colby featured at No. 33, and the Spanish duo of Perez Peña and Pinto Sansano come in at No. 44.
Offseason Competition: Several Bulldogs enjoyed eventful summers along the junior circuit.
Ratiu qualified for the M25 Duffel tournament back home in Brussels, Belgium and advanced to the round of 16. Blaydes and his brother, a member of the Auburn men’s tennis program, took home the men’s doubles title at the M15 Monastir in Tunisia. Cyrus Mahboob advanced to the quarterfinals of the B18s US Nationals tournament in Kalamazoo, MI., and Colby reached the quarterfinals of the Huntsville 15K.
New Faces, New Places: The Bulldogs welcomed several new faces to Athens for the 2024-25 season. Freshman Aidan Atwood and VCU transfer Oscar Pinto Sansano will join the ranks for the fall campaign. Atwood, a five-star recruit from Suwanee, Ga., held a career-best ITF Junior world ranking of 2,588 and was named the Forsyth County News Boys Tennis Player of the Year in 2022. Pinto Sansano began his collegiate career at Arkansas and compiled a 7-14 singles dual match record before spending transferring to VCU for two seasons. With VCU, Pinto Sansano held a 20-5 overall singles dual match record and was ranked as high as No. 31 in ITA doubles ranking. Prior to his collegiate career, he was regarded as the No. 53 junior in UTR world rankings.
Bryce Warren was promoted to associate head coach leading into the season after returning to Athens in 2024 as an assistant coach. Further, new assistant coach Bruno Tiberti joined the program after spending time on the staff at UT-Arlington.
WTEN: UGA Opens Fall Season Today
The Georgia women’s tennis team is set to open its 2024 fall season with action starting at the Battle in the Bay Classic today in San Francisco, Calif., as well as the Debbie Southern Furman Fall Classic on Friday, Sept. 13 in Greenville, S.C.
Quick Hits:
- Juniors Anastasiia Lopata, Sofia Rojas and Haley Gaudette as well as freshman Sarah Branicki will represent Georgia out on the West Coast at the Battle in the Bay Classic.
- Five Bulldogs in juniors Guillermina Grant and Mai Nirundorn, sophomores Aysegul Mert and Tatum Buffington as well as freshman Hayden Mulberry will make the shorter trek to compete in the Debbie Southern Furman Fall Classic.
- Four of seven Bulldogs ranked in the ITA preseason singles rankings will be in action at either competition this week, highlighted by Anastasiia Lopata (No. 13), Mai Nirundorn (No. 47), Guillermina Grant (No. 75) and Aysegul Mert (No. 94). The No. 7 ITA preseason doubles pairing of Grant and Nirundorn will both be competing at Furman.
- Wednesday will mark the start of year two for head coach Drake Bernstein, who coached the Bulldogs to a 25-5 overall record, SEC regular season and tournament titles and an NCAA National Championship appearance in 2024.
- Georgia will see three new additions make their team debuts in Sofia Rojas, Sarah Branicki and Hayden Mulberry.
Battle in the Bay Classic
Date: Sept. 12-15
Time: All day
Location: San Francisco, Calif.
Site: California Tennis Club
Live Scores: https://gado.gs/c2w
Debbie Southern Furman Fall Classic
Date: Sept. 13-15
Time: All day
Location: Greenville, S.C.
Site: Mickel Tennis Center
Live Scores: https://gado.gs/c2v
SB: SEC Announced the 2025 Softball Schedule
The Southeastern Conference announced the 2025 conference softball schedule on Wednesday afternoon.
Conference play will begin on March 7 and run through May 3. The regular-season conference schedule includes eight three-game series for each team for a total of 24 games. The schedule is subject to change, including the move of some conference series to conclude on Mondays.
Georgia’s 2025 SEC schedule will open at Jack Turner Stadium when the Tennessee Lady Vols come to town March 7-9.
The Bulldogs remaining conference home series include LSU (March 21-23), Texas A&M (April 4-6), and Ole Miss (April 18-20).
Georgia will hit the road for series at South Carolina (March 14-16), Alabama (March 28-30), Auburn (April 11-13), and Missouri (May 1-3).
The 2025 SEC Tournament is scheduled for May 6-10 at Turner Softball Stadium in Athens, Georgia. This will be the second time Jack Turner Stadium has hosted the SEC Softball Tournament and the first since 2006.
Game times and television assignments will be announced at a later date.
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