Georgia tennis alumni win first ever National Alumni Championships
Georgia Tennis picked up another National Championship this week – a unique one.
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Former Bulldogs Bo Hodge (’04), Wade McGuire (’96), Eddie Jacques (’97), John Roddick (98), Jay Laschinger (’96), Ryan Brandt (’96), Kevin Sessions (’97) to claim the first ever,
National Alumni Championships.
Hosted by TCU, six of the top tennis programs from around the country competed in the event for former college tennis players over the age of 30.
“This is an incredible gathering,” said Tournament Director Tom Hand as reported by Georgiadogs.com. “Between them, these guys have been All-American over 40 times, and many of them went on to play professionally on the ATP tour.”
The tournament format was Compass Draw. Match format was Dual match – 1 singles and 2 doubles, then 2 more doubles.
Specifically, the six teams divided into two 3-team pools for round robin competition. Each match began with one singles and two doubles. Once these doubles were over, the pairs rotated to play the other opposing pair. Between the two rounds of doubles, team captains could make substitutions. Georgia defeated Middle Tennessee and Baylor en route to the final, dropping just one singles match to Baylor’s Barry McLaren. McLaren, a member of Baylor’s 2004 NCAA Championship team, went an impressive 3-0 in singles over the weekend. Without any subs, New Mexico bested both Texas and TCU in their group. Their starting lineup played every match over the entire weekend, earning the nickname “The Iron Five.”
“This is a tremendous honor for us,” said Bulldog Captain and four-time All-American Jay Laschinger as reported by Georgiadogs.com. “I am so proud of this team. This has been an incredible weekend both on and off the court. I know everyone here has had a fantastic time and we can’t wait to come back again next year.”