Dawn of the Dawg
Fansided

Georgia Tennis Opens Conference Play With Wins

By Richard Gnann

facebooktwitterreddit

The Georgia Mens and Womens tennis teams continued their winning ways to open the Southeastern Conference dual match season.

More from Georgia Bulldogs News

The seventh ranked mens and second ranked womens Georgia tennis teams opened conference play with wins this week. The men defeated 17 ranked Florida 4-1 in Gainesville and the women defeated 45 ranked LSU 6-1 in Baton Rouge.

The Georgia men (8-2, 1-0 SEC) won doubles matches on courts 1 and 3 to earn the doubles point and the accompanying 1-0 advantage. The Dawgs then won singles matches at Number 2, 6 and 3 to defeat the Gators (5-3, 0-1 SEC) for the second consecutive time and the seventh time in the last eight meetings.

“It was a good win, a good team effort with everybody playing their hearts out,” Georgia head coach Manuel Diaz told Georgiadogs.com. “It’s our first outdoor match and there were some things we probably could have done a little bit better, but our guys just kept fighting through it. We could have lost the doubles point about 10 different times, but they persevered, in singles and doubles, which was just overall a great effort. They beat a very good Florida team on their courts in the first outdoor match, overcoming a lot of adversity and I’m proud.”

Georgia Bulldogs
Georgia Bulldogs /

Georgia Bulldogs

In doubles, seniors Nathan Pasha and Eric Diaz fell on court 2 before freshmen Paul Oosterbaan and Wayne Montgomery quickly notched a 6-1 victory on Number 3. With the doubles point hanging in the balance, the 10 ranked pair of Ben Wagland and Austin Smith came back from a 4-2 deficit to defeat Florida’s Diego Hidalgo and Gordon Watson in a tiebreaker, 7-6(7). The point was the Bulldogs fifth straight since switching up the doubles lineups prior to the ITA National Team Indoor Championships.

Number 25 Austin Smith won the first singles match 6-1, 6-4 over Number 103 Maxx Lipman on court 2. Paul Oosterbaan quickly followed, beating Florida’s Oliver Landert 6-4, 6-4 on court 6 to give Georgia the 3-0 advantage. The Gators’ 80-ranked Elliott Orkin defeated Nick Wood 7-5, 6-2 on court 4 to make it 3-1, before Pasha then clinched his second match of the year. Number 16 ranked Pasha rebounded after losing the second set to shut out Florida’s Gordon Watson in the third set, 6-2, 3-6, 6-0 on court 3.

The weather presented the Georgia women with their first opportunity to play outdoors this spring. The Bulldogs took an early lead in doubles. Senior Lauren Herring and freshman Ellen Perez combined to earn the Bulldogs their first doubles win with an 8-5 victory on court 1. Junior Silvia Garcia and freshman Kennedy Shaffer then clinched the point with an 8-3 win on court 2.

After securing the doubles point, the Bulldogs tripled their advantage with early singles wins from Garcia (6-3, 6-1) and Perez (6-2, 6-1) on courts 3 and 2. Freshman Mariana Gould, making just her third appearance in singles this season, then clinched the match for Georgia at 4-0 with a 6-4, 6-0 singles victory over Abigail Owens on court 4.

The remaining singles matches were played out and 6 ranked Herring gave the Bulldogs a 5-0 advantage with a 6-4, 6-1 win over 38 ranked Joana Vale Costa on court 1. Sophomore Caroline Brinson then lost a third-set tiebreaker to the Tigers’ Skylar Holloway on court 6 before freshman Hannah King closed out the proceedings with a 7-5, 7-6 (3) win on court 5.

“We haven’t really been outside that much so for our first day outside I really thought our players did a great job,” Georgia womens head coach Jeff Wallace told Georgiadogs.com. “I was super impressed. Doubles looked good and I thought all of the singles were really well-played. I thought LSU played a good match today as well. We are excited for this win and are looking forward to Sunday.”

The Lady Bulldogs improved to 39-4 in the all-time series against the Tigers and extended their winning streak to 33 matches.

Mens Tennis Results

#7 Georgia 4, #17 Florida 1

Singles competition

  1. #17 Wayne Montgomery vs. #46 Diego Hidalgo 6-3, 3-6, 1-1, unfinished
  2. #25 Austin Smith def. #103 Maxx Lipman 6-1, 6-4
  3. #16 Nathan Pasha def. Gordon Watson 6-2, 3-6, 6-0
  4. #80 Elliott Orkin def. Nick Wood 7-5, 6-2
  5. Ben Wagland vs. #123 Chase Perez-Blanco 6-3, 6-7 (0), unfinished
  6. Paul Oosterbaan def. Oliver Landert 6-4, 6-4

Doubles competition

  1. #10 Ben Wagland/Austin Smith (UGA) def. #47 Diego Hidalgo/Gordon Watson (UF) 7-6 (7)
  2. Maxx Lipman/Elliott Orkin (UF) def. Eric Diaz/Nathan Pasha (UGA) 6-1
  3. Wayne Montgomery/Paul Oosterbaan (UGA) def. Richard Brej/Oliver Landert (UF) 6-1

Order of finish: Doubles (2, 3, 1); Singles (2, 6, 4, 3)

Womens Tennis Results

Singles competition

  1. #6 Lauren Herring (UGA) def. #38 Joana Vale Costa (LSU) 6-4, 6-1
  2. #74 Ellen Perez (UGA) def. Noel Scott (LSU) 6-2, 6-1
  3. #97 Silvia Garcia (UGA) def. #112 Skylar Kuykendall (LSU) 6-3, 6-1
  4. #107 Mariana Gould (UGA) def. Abigail Owens (LSU) 6-4, 6-0
  5. #66 Hannah King (UGA) def. Ella Taylor (LSU) 7-5, 7-6 (7-3)
  6. Skylar Holloway (LSU) def. #111 Caroline Brinson (UGA) 7-5, 1-6, 1-0 (12-10)

Doubles competition

  1. #25 Lauren Herring/Ellen Perez (UGA) def. Joana Vale Costa/Noel Scott (LSU) 8-5
  2. #16 Silvia Garcia/Kennedy Shaffer (UGA) def. Abigail Owens/Skylar Kuykendall (LSU) 8-3
  3. #55 Caroline Brinson/Hannah King (UGA) vs. Ella Taylor/Skylar Holloway (LSU) 6-2, unfinished

Order of finish: Doubles (1,2); Singles (3,2,4,1,6,5)

Next: The Gurley Legacy

Home/Georgia Bulldogs News