The University of Georgia men’s tennis team improved to 4-0 this season with a 5-2 victory against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets Friday afternoon at the Lindsey Hopkins Indoor Center.
Georgia has won 34 of the last 35 meetings against Tech and owns a 67-9 lead in the all-time series.
“I’m pleased with our doubles,” Georgia head coach Manuel Diaz said. “We had different combinations today than when we played Georgia Tech in Atlanta a couple weeks ago, and it really paid off. In singles, it was tough going there at the No. 1 and No. 2 spots. It was close on both courts, but I think we showed a lot of poise and composure. Philip Henning established himself really strongly at the end to close it out at No. 3 and really gave us momentum. Erik [Grevelius] came into the lineup today, and he’s been working really hard and just did a tremendous job clinching the match for us.”
In doubles, Blake Croyder and Billy Rowe grabbed an early break at court two to build a 4-1 lead. The Bulldog tandem of Erik Grevelius and Philip Henning broke to go up 3-2, helping the home team claim the early advantage.
Georgia held on to big leads at two and three, winning each court by a 6-2 score to take a 1-0 advantage.
The Yellow Jackets evened the match at 1-1 with Marcus McDaniel’s 6-0, 7-5 win against Tyler Zink. After a first-set win, Henning broke back to go up 6-5 in the second and then held serve for the 6-2, 7-5 win to put the match at 2-1 in Georgia’s favor.
Croyder roared back from a first-set loss to win his 20th-straight dual singles match with a 4-6, 6-2, 6-1 triumph against Brandon McKinney.
That victory gave the Bulldogs a 3-1 lead with No. 1 singles player Trent Bryde locked in a back-and-forth battle at the top spot. Tech’s 59th-ranked Andres Martin played an outstanding match and looked strong in the third set to get past Bryde, 7-5, 2-6, 6-3.
With the score in the Bulldogs’ favor at 3-2, the match came down to the pit at courts five and six. Grevelius left no doubt with a match-clinching 6-4, 6-1 win. Rowe used a third-set, 10-point tiebreaker to defeat Pablo Schelcher.
Next up, Georgia is set to host No. 18-ranked UCF at noon ET next Saturday, Feb. 13.