Both Georgia Tennis Teams Ranked in Pre-Season Top 10

The Georgia men’s and women’s tennis teams both open the 2015 season ranked in the top 10.

Over 60 years ago, Georgia needed a tennis coach. With no one else willing to take on the thankless task, Dan Magill stepped up for dear old UGA and accepted the appointment.

And so began the rise of the Georgia tennis juggernaut.

The 2015 season begins with both the Georgia women’s and men’s tennis teams in the top 10 of the 2015 ITA preseason rankings released on Tuesday.

For the fourth consecutive season, the women and men own preseason top 10 rankings.

A year after finishing No. 4 in the final rankings, the women’s tennis team ranks fifth, trailing UCLA, Duke, Florida and North Carolina. The women finished 2014 as an NCAA quarterfinalists and SEC tournament champions. The men rank eighth after winning the 2014 regular season SEC title.

The women’s tennis team placed three in the initial singles rankings. Senior Lauren Herring leads the Bulldogs ranked No. 19, junior Silvia Garcia ranks No. 83 and freshman Hannah King ranks No. 91. The doubles pair of freshmen Mariana Gould and Ellen Perez debuts in the rankings at No. 43 after reaching the ITA Southeast Regional Quarterfinals in the fall. Perez was ranked No. 5 on the preseason freshman/newcomer rankings in September.

The men’s tennis team enters the 2015 season as the top-ranked SEC team. Junior Austin Smith (No. 11), senior Nathan Pasha (No. 15), freshman Wayne Montgomery (No. 32) and junior Nick Wood (No. 101) are all ranked in the ITA preseason singles rankings. Montgomery, who was ranked No. 5 on the preseason freshman/newcomer rankings to start the fall, won his first 10 singles matches (and two tournaments) en route to an 18-3 fall record. The men’s team also placed three doubles teams in the rankings, including No. 16 Ben Wagland and Paul Oosterbaan, No. 34 Austin Smith and Eric Diaz and No. 53 Nathan Pasha and Wayne Montgomery.

The Georgia women’s tennis team will begin their 2015 spring season at Baylor on January 18, while the men’s tennis team will compete in the MLK Invitational January 17-19 in Atlanta.