The Georgia men’s tennis team is scheduled to play its first outdoor match of the season Sunday at 2:30 p.m. against Furman University at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex. The Bulldogs enter the outdoor season with a 6-2 record and ranked No. 3 in the country.
LAST TIME OUT: Georgia reached the semfinals of the ITA National Team Indoor Championship last week in Chicago, beating No. 15 Columbia and fifth-ranked Illinois. The Bulldogs played then-No. 1 USC in the semifinals and won the doubles point before the Trojans claimed four consecutive victories in singles. Georgia led the match at No. 1, 4-1 in the third set and the match at No. 3 was tied 3-3 in the third set when the match was clinched.
RANKINGS: Georgia climbed one spot to No. 3 in this week’s ITA Rankings. This marks the Bulldogs’ highest ranking of the season. In singles, Nathan Pasha is the highest-ranked Bulldog at No. 15, Wayne Montgomery is No. 17 and Austin Smith is No. 21. Two of the Bulldogs’ doubles teams are ranked.
NOTEWORTHY
• For all SEC regular season matches, Georgia’s two home non-conference matches and the SEC Tournament, the ITA match format that has been used all season will continue to be in effect. Last year’s format will apply to all NCAA Tournament matches.
• Georgia utilized three new doubles teams last week at National Indoors, and the Bulldogs won the doubles point in all three matches against teams that are currently ranked in the top-11 in the country.
• Nathan Pasha won his 200th career match earlier this season against Georgia Tech. The senior from Atlanta is 203-83 in his UGA career, which is the 14th most wins by a Georgia player since 1986.
• Pasha leads the team with nine wins against ranked opponents, and Wayne Montgomery is second with eight.
• Montgomery has been named the SEC Freshman of the Week in each of the last two weeks. He clinched the win against fifth-ranked Illinois at No. 1 last Saturday.
• In eight matches this season, Georgia has played teams ranked No. 1 (twice), No. 4, No. 5 and No. 15. The Bulldogs have two wins against top-five teams.
UP NEXT: The Bulldogs will open SEC play next week with road matches against No. 16 Florida Thursday at 5:30 p.m. followed by a trip to No. 35 Auburn at 2 p.m. on Saturday.
