2015 Season In Review
June 08, 2015 | Men's Tennis
GEORGIA WINS ANOTHER SEC TITLE, REACHES NCAA QUARTERS: The 2014-15 Georgia Bulldogs completed the season with a 24-5 record and won the program's 29th SEC regular season championship while also reaching the quarterfinals of the NCAA Championship. Including its nine SEC Tournament titles, Georgia now has 38 total SEC crowns. The Bulldogs were ranked in the top-10 throughout the season and spent eight weeks in the top-five. UGA had seven wins against top-15 teams.
HONORS: Juniors Austin Smith and Ben Wagland earned All-America honors in doubles. Georgia led the conference with four First Team All-SEC selections, including freshman of the year Wayne Montgomery. Austin Smith, Nathan Pasha and Ben Wagland were also first team honorees. Montgomery, who was included on the SEC All-Freshman team, became the first Bulldog named SEC Freshman of the Year since John Isner in 2004. Wagland and Smith were also named to the SEC All-Tournament Team.
INDIVIDUAL RANKINGS: Georgia finished the season with three players in the singles rankings and three teams in the doubles rankings, including one tandem at No. 2. Austin Smith and Ben Wagland finished ranked second nationally, the seventh time in the last 15 years that a Bulldog tandem ended the season ranked in the top-five nationally. Wagland was also ranked No. 44 with Paul Oosterbaan, and Smith was ranked 62nd with Eric Diaz. In singles, Wayne Montgomery was Georgia's highest-ranked player at No. 26, followed by Smith at No. 27 and Nathan Pasha at No. 37.
FALL SEASON: Georgia players won three tournaments in the fall, including two by Wayne Montgomery, who led the team with 18 fall victories. Montgomery won the Southern Intercollegiate Championships in Athens and the Cajun Classic in Lafayette, La., while Austin Smith was the winner of the Southeast Regional Championships held at UGA. Smith and Nathan Pasha, who was a quarterfinalist at the All-American Championships, each won singles matches at the National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships. Eric Diaz registered 11 wins, Nick Wood had 10, and Montgomery led the team with six victories against ranked opponents.
NOTEWORTHY
» Six different players clinched multiple matches, led by Nick Wood with seven and Austin Smith with five.
» Georgia played most of its matches in the 2014-15 season under the new ITA shortened format, which included no-ad scoring in singles and doubles, each doubles match played to six with a tiebreaker at 6-all, and no warm-ups with opponents in singles and doubles. The Bulldogs' four matches in the NCAA Tournament were played using the traditional format.
» Austin Smith and Ben Wagland earned the No. 1 seed for the NCAA Doubles Championship and reached the quarterfinals.
» Three Georgia players - Wayne Montgomery, Nathan Pasha and Austin Smith - earned at-large bids to the NCAA Singles Championship. Smith reached the second round.
» Georgia's freshmen were a combined 32-8 in dual matches.
» Three of Georgia's five losses were to teams ranked No. 1.
» Georgia had a 10-match winning streak during the season that included wins against eventual NCAA Tournament teams Florida, Texas A&M, LSU, Tennessee, East Tennessee State and Vanderbilt.
» The Bulldogs used the same doubles combination at No. 1 in 24 consecutive matches. Austin Smith and Ben Wagland, who were No. 1 in the country for six consecutive editions of the rankings, were 16-3 in those matches with wins against teams ranked Nos. 1, 2, 4, 6, 11 (twice), 12 and 16.
» Nathan Pasha finished his career with 223 singles and doubles wins, good for seventh in the Georgia record books. His 101 career doubles wins also rank seventh all-time at UGA.
» Georgia was unbeaten (14-0) at the No. 2 singles spot in the final 21 matches of the season.
» The Bulldogs won their 100th NCAA Tournament match by defeating Florida State 4-0 on May 9. Georgia became the third program to win 100 matches in the NCAA Tournament, joining UCLA and Stanford.
Players Mentioned
