[su_spacer size=”20″] Georgia’s Austin Smith, Ben Wagland and Wayne Montgomery will compete in the inaugural Oracle/ITA Masters Sept. 18-20, it was announced by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association.[su_spacer size=”40″] The Oracle/ITA Masters is the first national collegiate championship of the 2015-16 season and will be held at the Malibu Club in Malibu, Calif. It was announced in June that Smith and Wagland would compete in doubles, and the ITA recently selected Smith and Montgomery to compete in singles. The tournament features 16 men’s and women’s singles players and eight doubles teams for each gender.
[su_spacer size=”40″] Singles champions will earn automatic bids to the USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championship.
[su_spacer size=”40″] Smith was a first team All-SEC pick in 2015 and was also named to the SEC All-Tournament Team. He ended the year with a 27-11 singles record and a No. 27 national singles ranking. The senior from Cumming, Ga., was 8-1 in the SEC, which was tied for the team lead in league wins.
[su_spacer size=”40″] Montgomery was the 2015 SEC Freshman of the Year and had a final ranking of No. 26, which was highest on the team. He was also named first team All-SEC and SEC All-Freshman and led team with 32 singles wins and was second with a combined 51 singles and doubles wins.
[su_spacer size=”40″] Smith and Wagland finished the 2014-15 season with an 18-4 doubles record, including a 16-3 mark against ranked opponents. The pair had wins against doubles teams ranked Nos. 1, 2, 4, 6, 11 (twice), 12 and 16, and they are the seventh Georgia tandem in the last 15 years to finish the year ranked in the top-five nationally. They reached the quarterfinals of the NCAA Doubles Championship as the No. 1 overall seed.
[su_spacer size=”40″] Men’s singles competitors for the Oracle/ITA Masters include Axel Alvarez (Oklahoma), Ryan Shane (Virginia), Julian Lenz (Baylor), Quentin Monaghan (Notre Dame), Andrew Harris (Oklahoma), Nicolas Alvarez (Duke), Dominik Koepfer (Tulane), Romain Bogaerts (Wake Forest), Jared Hiltzik (Illinois), Ronnie Schneider (North Carolina), Cameron Norrie (TCU), Guillermo Nunez (TCU), Max Tchoutakian (Baylor), Felipe Soares (Texas Tech), Smith and Montgomery (UGA).
[su_spacer size=”40″] The doubles teams include Luca Corinteli/Shane (Virginia), Boris Arias/Jordan Daigle (LSU), Benjamin Lock/Marco Nunez (Florida State), Lenz/Tchoutakian (Baylor), Alex Lawson/Monaghan (Notre Dame), Guilherme Hadlich/Garbiel Sidney (Pepperdine), Eddy Covalschi/Josh Hagar (Notre Dame) and Smith/Wagland (UGA).
[su_spacer size=”40″] Georgia’s fall season begins with the Southern Intercollegiate Championships Sept. 11-14.