University of Georgia Athletics
Dogs Off To Strong SEC Start
March 07, 2016 | Men's Tennis
By John Frierson
UGAAA Staff Writer
Paul Oosterbaan dominated Sunday, as did Austin Smith. Combined, they lost a total of five games in their singles matches.
Lopsided individual wins are always nice, and the sophomore Oosterbaan has seldom played better than he did Sunday, but more important for the Georgia men's tennis team was a second straight strong performance to start SEC play.
The No. 16-ranked Bulldogs opened league play at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex on Friday, beating Mississippi State 5-2 (clinching at 4-0). Georgia followed that up Sunday afternoon with a 6-1 win over Alabama (again clinching at 4-0).
For a Georgia squad that's gotten off to a slow start to the dual-match season, in part due to injuries to two key players in Nick Wood and Duncan Walker, to start SEC play off in convincing fashion is a big deal.
"I think it was good to come out, first weekend of the SEC, and make a little statement," Oosterbaan said.
The Dogs entered the weekend a very un-Georgia 5-3 in dual matches — they've lost twice to UCLA, now ranked No. 6, and once to 10th-ranked Texas Tech; all three coming indoors — but the team is now 7-3, 2-0 in the conference, and gathering momentum and confidence when it matters most.
"We were definitely disappointed with how the indoors ended up for us, so we've been looking forward to the SEC season starting and getting outdoors," Smith said. "I think this was about as good as it could go. ... I think things are looking up a lot for us."
Georgia coach Manuel Diaz said Sunday's match was "probably our best match of the year, most complete match of the year." That started with doubles and good play on all three courts, something that hasn't happened all the time.
"Today I thought we brought it and our focus was where we needed it to be," Diaz said, "and I was really, really pleased."
After Georgia took the doubles point it seemed like a race to see who could win first between the senior Smith at No. 1 singles and Oosterbaan at No. 3. Both took their strong form in doubles and carried it over to singles, and both won their opening sets 6-0.
Their Tide opponents were getting pushed around the court and compounding their difficulties with errors, which only fed the Bulldogs' attacks. For the 6-foot-7, hard-serving Oosterbaan, it was all systems go. He bombed aces, he volleyed well, he showed off his touch with short balls against an opponent often pushed behind the baseline.
"I played pretty well — I'm glad to be outside," said Oosterbaan, whose game, and especially serve, benefit from the fast courts outside, compared to slower conditions indoors.
Oosterbaan edged his teammate Smith by giving up one fewer game, beating Alabama's Becker O'Shaughnessy 6-0, 6-2, but the No. 27-ranked Smith got off the court first, routing Korey Lovett 6-0, 6-3.
Georgia's biggest hitter off the ground, Smith was making a racket on court 1 with his powerful groundstrokes. He attacked at every opportunity and never let Lovett get into the match. Having lost his concentration against Auburn's Mate Cutura on Friday, falling 1-6, 6-4, 6-3, Smith said he wasn't about to let the same thing happen Sunday.
"On Friday I got off to the same really good start, won the first set and then things just kind of slipped away. I maybe gave a point away here and there and today I was just really focused on taking care of my serve," he said. "I knew with the way I was seeing my returns, if I just took care of my serve and won my service games, I would get my chances on his serve. I think I only faced one or two break points on my serve the whole match."
It was the freshman from Poland, Jan Zielinski, that clinched the match for Georgia, at No. 4 singles, beating Grayson Goldin, 6-3, 7-5. Zielinski took the first set with an ace on set point, screaming "Allez! Come on!" afterward — a multilingual celebration.
Zielinski found himself down 5-3 in the second set and looking at a third, which is when he regrouped and regained the upper hand. He won the last four games, closing out the match with a booming forehand win.
Both weekend matches were played all the way out despite Georgia earning the clinching point. Completing matches can help with rankings but, in the cases of Wood and Duncan, it can give them added match and court time as they try to regain top form after missing some time.
Duncan and Wood provided the third and fourth point Friday, both winning in straight sets, and Sunday, after the Dogs' win was secured, they closed out their matches.
The Bulldogs are back in action this Sunday when they visit Vanderbilt.
Talking UGA Tennis
At 5:30 p.m. Tuesday in the auditorium at UGA's Russell Special Collections Building, there will be an hour-long panel discussion on the Georgia men's and women's programs' rich histories and the life and legacy of former men's coach (and so much more) Dan Magill.
Participating in the discussion will be Diaz, women's tennis coach Jeff Wallace, Georgia all-time great and ITA Hall of Fame member Allen Miller, as well as current Lady Bulldog junior Caroline Brinson.
Currently on display in the Russell Building is a Magill exhibit, honoring "The Greatest Bulldog of Them All," and featuring photos, memorabilia and much more from Magill's life. The exhibit runs through the end of April. The exhibit and the panel discussion are free and open to the public.
John Frierson is the staff writer for the UGA Athletic Association and curator of the ITA Men's Tennis Hall of Fame. You can find his work at: Frierson Files. He's also on Twitter: @FriersonFiles and @ITAHallofFame.
