(Photo by John Kelley)
The third-ranked Georgia men’s tennis team (11-2, 4-0 SEC) will be back on the road for a pair of SEC matches this week against No. 55 Tennessee (9-6, 1-2 SEC) on Thursday and Kentucky (8-9, 0-3 SEC) on Saturday. Both matches are scheduled to start at 1 p.m. The Bulldogs, who are currently alone in first place in the SEC, will reach the halfway point of their conference schedule this weekend.
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LAST TIME OUT: Georgia won home matches last week against current No. 9 Texas A&M on Friday and LSU on Sunday by scores of 4-1 and 4-2, respectively. The Bulldogs became the first team to win the doubles point vs. the Aggies this season. Against LSU, Georgia’s streak of winning the doubles point in seven consecutive matches came to an end, but the Bulldogs won four of the five completed singles matches to improve to 4-0 in SEC play.
[su_spacer size=”40″] RANKINGS: Georgia matched its highest ranking of the season when it climbed one spot to No. 3 this week. Three Bulldogs are ranked in the top-30 in singles: Nathan Pasha is No. 15, Wayne Montgomery is No. 17 and Austin Smith is No. 30. Four doubles teams are ranked: Smith and Ben Wagland are No. 7, Wagland and Paul Oosterbaan are No. 31, Smith and Eric Diaz are 62nd, and Pasha and Diaz are ranked No. 70. No other SEC team has multiple singles players ranked in the top-20.
[su_spacer size=”40″] NOTEWORTHY
[su_spacer size=”40″] RANKINGS: Georgia matched its highest ranking of the season when it climbed one spot to No. 3 this week. Three Bulldogs are ranked in the top-30 in singles: Nathan Pasha is No. 15, Wayne Montgomery is No. 17 and Austin Smith is No. 30. Four doubles teams are ranked: Smith and Ben Wagland are No. 7, Wagland and Paul Oosterbaan are No. 31, Smith and Eric Diaz are 62nd, and Pasha and Diaz are ranked No. 70. No other SEC team has multiple singles players ranked in the top-20.
[su_spacer size=”40″] NOTEWORTHY
• This is the second consecutive year that Georgia has traveled to Tennessee. The Bulldogs won their SEC opener at UT last year 4-0.
• Georgia has won 25 of its last 26 SEC regular season home matches dating back to the 2013 season. The Bulldogs have a winning streak against each of the other 12 SEC teams.
• Nick Wood leads the team with four match clinchers.
• Georgia’s freshmen are a combined 6-0 in SEC singles matches. Paul Oosterbaan is 3-0, Wayne Montgomery is 2-0 and Peter Bertran is 1-0. Wayne Montgomery has been named SEC Freshman of the Week three times.
• Nathan Pasha needs three more wins to move into a tie for 10th on the all-time career doubles wins list at UGA. He is currently 95-40. Pasha has won seven consecutive completed matches in singles, and he leads the team with 11 wins against ranked opponents.
[su_spacer size=”40″] UP NEXT: The Bulldogs will play host to East Tennessee State in the final non-conference match of the regualar season Thursday, March 19 at 2:30 p.m.
[su_spacer size=”40″] UP NEXT: The Bulldogs will play host to East Tennessee State in the final non-conference match of the regualar season Thursday, March 19 at 2:30 p.m.