University of Georgia Athletics
Bulldogs Travel For Two In Mississippi
March 30, 2011 | Men's Tennis
March 30, 2011
ATHENS, Ga. --- The ninth-ranked Georgia men's tennis team will carry its 10-match winning streak into the state of Mississippi, continuing its road swing with a pair at Ole Miss on Friday and at Mississippi State on Sunday. The Bulldogs' hot streak is currently the longest in the SEC and has kept the squad in the hunt for a 26th regular-season conference title as they are currently knotted with Tennessee atop the standings.
Georgia will meet the 25th-ranked Rebels on Friday night for a 6 p.m. ET first serve in Oxford, before heading to Starkville to take on the other Bulldogs on Sunday at 2 p.m. ET. UGA pushed its streak to 10 in a row with last week's wins over Louisville and Arkansas to finish out the month of March with a perfect 7-0 record. This weekend's trip will close out the road swing as the Bulldogs then return home for three in a row vs. SEC East foes Florida, South Carolina, and Tennessee to close out the regular season.
Live scoring will be available for this weekend's matches on Georgiadogs.com.
"We're as excited as anything else - the fact that we're undefeated in the conference and coming down the stretch in probably the most challenging three weekends of the year for us," said head coach Manuel Diaz. "Everybody is healthy and we're playing well and that's what you want to have at this time of the year. It's a matter of stepping up and playing your best when your best is called for. Our kids are excited, that's the mood of the group right now, and we're up to the challenge in front of us. We're going to let the chips fall where they may and go as hard as we can the next three weeks."
GEORGIA VS. OLE MISS: Georgia is 33-9 in the all-time series vs. Ole Miss, most recently scoring a 5-2 decision over the Rebels in Athens. The Bulldogs' last loss to Ole Miss came in the 2009 season, a 4-3 setback.
LOOKING AT THE REBELS: Ole Miss comes into the weekend meeting with an overall record of 10-4 and 4-2 in the SEC, good for a first-place tie with Mississippi State in the SEC West. The Rebels' last outing saw a 6-0 sweep of Eastern Division foe South Carolina in Oxford.
The Rebels are No. 25 in the latest edition of the ITA team rankings, while individually they have two players in the singles poll in Marcel Thiemann (No. 40) and Tucker Vorster (No. 108). In doubles, the team of Mercel and Chris Thiemann is currently the eighth-ranked pair in the nation.
On the stat sheets, Ole Miss is led by Vorster's 15-8 record, while Jonas Lutjen is 13-8 and Marcel Thiemann and Adrian Forberg Skogeng are also in double figures. In doubles, the Thiemanns are 14-7 to lead the way which includes a 6-3 dual match clip.
The Rebels are coached by 32nd year head coach Billy Chadwick, a three-time SEC Coach of the Year selection.
GEORGIA VS. MISSISSIPPI STATE: Georgia is 49-11 all-time vs. MSU following last year's 5-2 win at home. Georgia last lost to the Bulldogs of the West in 2005, good for a seven-match winning streak.
LOOKING AT THE (OTHER) BULLDOGS: MSU is off to one of its best starts in recent years, currently owning a 9-6 (4-2) record to remain knotted with in-state rival Ole Miss for first place in the SEC West.
Mississippi State is coming off a tough-to-swallow 4-3 loss to Florida last Saturday that halted the Bulldogs' four-match winning streak, featuring a trio of three-setters and two tiebreakers between the schools.
The Bulldogs stand at No. 32 in the team rankings and have three players -- George Coupland (No. 76), Louis Cant (No. 77), and Artem Ilyushin (No. 94) -- ranked in singles. The doubles team of Coupland and Zach White came in at No. 55 this week, followed by Cant and Malte Stropp at No. 84.
They are led by Stropp's 18-5 record, while Ilyushin is 16-8 and Cant 15-6. In doubles, the team of Cant and Stropp own the most wins at 12-9 on the year.
LAST TIME OUT: No. 11 Georgia won a pair of matches last week to extend its SEC-best winning streak to 11 matches. The Bulldogs defeated Louisville by a 4-3 score in Wednesday's non-conference midweek matchup before sweeping Arkansas 7-0 in Saturday's return to league action. Georgia improves to 15-3 overall and 6-0 in the SEC, tied for Tennessee for first place as the two are only remaining unbeatens.
Drake Bernstein clinched for the Bulldogs at No. 4 in the tight contest with the Cardinals, and the senior captain has now won a team-best nine straight singles matches. Against Arkansas, the clinch came from freshman Hernus Pieters, good for his fifth of the year to lead the squad.
IN THE RANKINGS: The Georgia men's tennis team two wins last week helped it climb back into the top-10 of the ITA rankings at No. 9, it was announced March 29.
The Bulldogs made the jump from No. 11 to reenter the top-10 after reaching as high as No. 8 in the March 15 poll. Virginia maintained its No. 1 ranking this week, followed by Southern California, Ohio State, Tennessee, Texas A&M, California, Texas, Pepperdine, Georgia, and Duke to round out the top-10.
A new set of individual singles and doubles rankings came out this week as well, where the Bulldogs saw Wil Spencer at No. 14, Javier Garrapiz at No. 29, and Sadio Doumbia at No. 54 in addition to the doubles teams of Garrapiz and Hernus Pieters at No. 11 and Doumbia and Ignacio Taboada at No. 37.
GOING STREAKING: Georgia's current 10-match winning streak well surpassed the team's longest of the 2010 season, when the Bulldogs won seven in a row between Feb. 27 and March 14. Georgia is now chasing its mark of 11 straight from March 8-April 24, 2009. Prior to that, the Bulldogs won 14 in a row twice in the last three years.
With perfect 6-0 records to open the SEC schedule, Georgia and Tennessee are the only two teams still without a conference loss and tied atop the league standings.
Individually, Drake Bernstein is on a hot streak of his own, a winner of nine straight singles matches. His teammates Ignacio Taboada and Campbell Johnson have each won their last four matches. In doubles, Georgia's regular No. 1 (Javier Garrapiz/Hernus Pieters) and No. 2 (Sadio Doumbia/Ignacio Taboada) have each won their last three matches as Georgia has won nine of its last 10 doubles point attempts.
20-MATCH WINNERS: Already with six players with 20 or more wins and a seventh on the brink, Georgia leads the SEC in that category. Tennessee has five and Florida three in chasing the Bulldogs.
Georgia is led thus far by Sadio Doumbia's 29 wins, followed by Wil Spencer (28), Drake Bernstein (27), Javier Garrapiz (26), Hernus Pieters (25), and Ignacio Taboada (22). Campbell Johnson is next in line sitting with 18 wins.
All three of Georgia's regular doubles teams have notched 20 wins as well.
ON DECK: Georgia returns home to host SEC East rivals Florida and South Carolina next weekend, before closing the regular season with a home meeting against Tennessee - with whom the Bulldogs currently share first place in the conference. That Senior Day match is set for Sat., April 16 at 3:30 p.m. at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex.