Following an undefeated week for the fourth-ranked Georgia Bulldog men’s tennis team, senior Wayne Montgomery was named the Co-Southeastern Conference Player of the Week, the league announced Wednesday.
“We are so pleased with Wayne and the week he had down in Florida against Georgia Tech and Florida Atlantic University,” Georgia head coach Manuel Diaz said. “He finished with a perfect record in both singles and doubles and really just played phenomenal tennis in both matches. Wayne is one of our leaders, and the maturity and growth he has shown will really help this team down the stretch this season. I am happy for him and look forward to seeing what he can accomplish this year.
Honored alongside Tennessee’s senior Luis Valero, the 17th-ranked Montgomery went 3-0 in singles and doubles to guide Georgia to its 2-0 week. The senior allowed only one opponent to win more than one set against him, and it came against the 39th-ranked Georgia Tech sophomore Carlos Divar in a 6-1, 6-2 performance. Against FAU on Thursday, Montgomery knotted the match at one with a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Jason Legall, completing the first of six consecutive Georgia singles wins.
In 2018 action, the Somerset West, South Africa native has won all seven of his singles matches in straight sets, including the last four on the first court in dual play.
Montgomery shares the doubles court with junior Walker Duncan, and the pair leads the Bulldogs in dual play with three wins. The duo won Georgia’s first doubles match against Georgia Tech, evening the doubles point and setting up the 1-0 Bulldog lead on the way to the sweep. With the win, Duncan and Montgomery improve to six-straight completed match victories for an overall 11-4 clip.
The accolade marks Montgomery’s fifth weekly award from the SEC in his career, including two Player of the Week honors, and three SEC Freshman of the Week. Montgomery was also named the SEC Freshman of the Year in 2015, the first for the Georgia men’s tennis program since John Isner.
Georgia (4-0) returns to action on Friday in the ITA National Indoor Championship in Seattle, Washington, hosted by the University of Washington. The Bulldogs face off with the No. 14 Columbia Lions.