University of Georgia Athletics
Slow Start Led To Perfect Finish
April 21, 2016 | Men's Tennis
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By John Frierson
UGAAA Staff Writer
Coming off the court in Charlottesville, Va., on Feb. 14, having just lost in the consolation draw at the ITA National Men's Team Indoor Championships, the outlook for Georgia's spring, and the Bulldogs' chances for a fourth straight Southeastern Conference regular-season title, seemed uncertain.
Unless you're coach Manuel Diaz.
The Bulldogs, then ranked No. 11, had just fallen to No. 14 Texas Tech, dropping Georgia's record to 4-3. In fact, the Dogs had split their previous six matches, not something that happens often at one of college tennis' elite programs.
"I think the biggest thing is that we didn't panic," Diaz said Tuesday, two days after the Bulldogs (18-3) won their 14th consecutive match and completed a perfect 12-0 run to the program's 30th SEC regular-season title. The Bulldogs haven't swept their way to the SEC regular-season title since 2007, when an all-time great Georgia squad went 32-0.
It takes more than not panicking to win 14 in a row and to sweep a conference that this week has six teams ranked in the ITA top 25, led by the Dogs at No. 6.
"We got healthier and I think our guys, the message all along was that we knew we were better than we'd been up to that point," Diaz said. "We knew the outdoor part of the season was ahead of us and we looked at that as a new start and an opportunity for us to still achieve the number one goal for us, which is always to win the SEC regular season and go undefeated in doing so.
"That's the number one goal each year and that was in front of us."
While being 4-3 looked bad, keep in mind that two of the losses were to UCLA (now ranked No. 2 in the country), and Texas Tech, now No. 9, has been hanging around the top 10 all spring. Bad losses these were certainly not, nor was the Georgia lineup in late January and early February the same one that has played so well in March and April.
Senior Nick Wood and freshman Walker Duncan, both key components of the Dogs' singles lineup, had missed some matches due to injuries and took a little while to return to top form.
Now take that improved health and add in a lot of maturation. Georgia has three seniors in Wood, Austin Smith and Ben Wagland, key contributors all, but this is fundamentally a young team. Smith plays No. 1 singles and doubles (with Wagland) and Wood plays No. 5 or 6 singles. It's all first- and second-year Dogs after that.
Sophomore Wayne Montgomery plays No. 2 singles and No. 3 doubles (with freshman Emil Reinberg), redshirt sophomore Paul Oosterbaan plays No. 3 singles and No. 2 doubles (with freshman Jan Zielinski, a January enrollee), Duncan plays No. 4 singles and Zielinski plays No. 5 or 6.
Diaz said the development of this team and the maturation of the young players has been critical.
"It boils down to getting each guy to their next step," he said. "All of our guys had a lot of growth they had to achieve -- they had to come along."
And they did.
"Once we got a couple of matches under our belt we started rolling and picking up steam," Smith said, "and we've really done of good job of working together and enjoying every moment; we're all fighting for each other."
Every match is pivotal when you're trying for an undefeated conference slate or riding a long win streak, but two, both at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex, stand out from the past two months. The first was a 4-2 defeat of then-No. 4 Ohio State, an eye-catching non-conference victory, and the second was a come-from-behind 5-2 win over Florida, then No. 14 in the country and presently No. 11.
Georgia won the doubles point and never looked to be in trouble against the Buckeyes (now ranked No. 5), playing strong throughout en route to their only win over a top-five team in the regular season. Of course knowing Ohio State was its only shot at a standout victory on the national stage, especially since Georgia was ranked No. 19 at the time, added a lot of pressure, Diaz said.
The Dogs handled the pressure and the Buckeyes. It was a different pressure Georgia faced a few weeks later, when Florida jumped on the Bulldogs early. The Gators won the doubles point and four of the six first sets in singles, putting Georgia's backs firmly against the wall.
Ask Duncan what about playing collegiate tennis has surprised him the most and here's his answer: "Just how much a match can swing." Duncan was a big part of that swing against Florida, rallying to win in three sets, as did Zielinski and Montgomery, to go along with straight-set wins by Oosterbaan and Wood.
"We still all talk about it and how cool that was, having the crowd pull us through like that," Duncan said of beating Florida in front a fiery crowd of more than 1,600.
For Smith, it has been a final spring with the Dogs that so far couldn't have gone any better or been any more enjoyable.
"It means a lot," he said. "To be able to [go 12-0 in the SEC] and to be the first team to do it since the '07 team gives me a lot of confidence and gives all the guys a lot of confidence going into the SEC tournament and the NCAAs, where it really counts.
"It's cool what we've done, but that's only one step in the direction we want to go."
The next step begins Friday when the top-seeded Bulldogs begin play in the SEC tournament at South Carolina. Georgia will play the winner of Thursday's match between eighth-seeded Alabama and ninth-seeded Ole Miss.
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.
Players Mentioned
