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MTEN: Georgia Downs Tennessee and The Citadel

The University of Georgia men’s tennis team knocked off No. 16 Tennessee, 4-2, before sweeping The Citadel, 7-0, on Monday afternoon at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex. The Bulldogs improve to 7-4 at the start of the conference season.

FAST FACTS: 

TENNESSEE: 

• Tennessee grabbed wins on courts one and two to clinch the doubles point. 
• Georgia evened the match at 1-1 after senior Oscar Pinto Sansano grabbed his eighth win off the spring.
• The Bulldogs had to fight back from two deficits during the match after the Volunteers took a 1-0 lead after doubles and a 2-1 lead during singles.
• No. 38 Miguel Perez Peña earned his career-high win in singles over No. 16 Shunsuke Mitsui, while also making his career-debut on court one for conference play.
• Senior Thomas Paulsell recorded his fifth career match-clinching win on court three to secure the victory for the Bulldogs.
• Georgia’s win marks the highest-ranked regular season win for the program since the Bulldogs defeated No. 5 South Carolina in 2023.
• With today’s result, the Bulldogs moved to 66-30 all-time versus the Volunteers and 6-4 on the season.  

THE CITADEL:

• The Bulldogs improved to 7-1 at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex this season with the win. 
• No. 16 Ratiu/Blaydes moved to 3-0 in doubles with the win over Van Dyke/Beckendorf. 
• Perez Peña/Parker Jacques grabbed their first doubles win as of the season as a duo, defeating Nick Stroumpis/Tucker Hendrix. 
• Sophomore Cyrus Mahjoob recorded his fourth career match-clinching win on court five.
• Sophomore Freddy Blaydes recorded his first win of the dual match season on court three. 
• Sophomore Parker Mariencheck secured his first win of the outdoor season, defeating Anthony Osipov to clinch the sweep.  
• Georgia’s all-time record against The Citadel is now 3-0-1 with Monday’s 7-0 victory. 

RESULTS:

Tennessee

Doubles:

1. No. 26 Kotzen/Moreno def. No. 18 Paulsell/Colby, 6-1
2. Mitsui/Jesudason def. No. 81 Ratiu/Perez Peña, 6-4
3. Newton/Kobierski vs. Pinto Sansano/Vulpitta, 3-5, unfinished

Order of Finish (1,2)

Singles:

1. No. 38 Miguel Perez Peña def. No. 16 Shunsuke Mitsui, 6-1, 6-3
2. No. 46 Ryan Colby def. No. 31 Alex Kotzen, 6-3, 6-3
3. No. 20 Thomas Paulsell def. Jose Garcia, 6-4, 6-4
4. No. 95 Alejandro Moreno def. Niels Ratiu, 6-3, 6-1
5. Oscar Pinto Sansano def. Jan Kobierski, 6-3, 6-0
6. Gabriele Vulpitta vs. Ian Cruz, 7(13)-6(11), unfinished

Order of Finish (5,4,1,2,3)

The Citadel

Doubles:

1. No. 16 Ratiu/Blaydes def. Van Dyke/Beckendorf, 6-1
2. Costa/Mahjoob vs. Bagwell/Ladino Alvarez, 3-3, unfinished
3. Perez Peña/Jacques def. Stroumpis/Hendrix, 6-1

Order of Finish (3,1)

Singles:

1. Niels Ratiu def. Noah Van Dyke, 6-0, 6-2
2. Oscar Pinto Sansano def. Ted Bagwell, 6-3, 6-1
3. Freddy Blaydes def. Bradey Minnich, 6-3, 6-2
4. Filipe Costa def. Nick Stroumpis, 6-0, 6-2
5. Cyrus Mahjoob def. Reece Beckendorf, 6-2, 6-1
6. Parker Mariencheck def. Anthony Osipov, 6-2, 6-2

Order of Finish (1,4,5,2,3,6)

KEY QUOTES:

Head Coach Jamie Hunt

On the Tennessee win…

“Really proud of the guys for the Tennessee match. I told them honestly, I expected us to play at match like that today because these guys have been putting in the work day-to-day like we ask them to do and more. Really proud of them, but I expected them to come out and play a good match today. I thought our resiliency after doubles, which wasn’t our best, was really impressive. We came out and jumped on them in singles and kind of got momentum across the board. Just tremendous performances from Miguel [Perez Peña], Ryan [Colby] at two, Thomas [Paulsell] at three, and Oscar [Pinto Sansano] at five. Then for Gabry [Vulpitta] to win a really close first set like that and just have that in the bank was huge. Just really pleased. Tennessee is a good team, a well-coached. So, I’m just really pleased.”

Senior Miguel Perez Peña

On his career-high win in singles…

“I was just playing my tennis. I’m playing confident. I have confidence in myself. I just knew the game plan, and I think I executed really well. I was playing heavy and high tempo. I knew that was going to get me the results that I wanted, so I was just doing that at a high level and didn’t change the whole match.”

UP NEXT: 

Georgia continues SEC action on the road next weekend. The Bulldogs will first stop in Tuscaloosa to face Alabama on Friday, February 28 at 7:00 p.m. E.T before traveling to Auburn on Sunday, March 2 at 2:00 p.m. E.T. 

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