University of Georgia Athletics
Bulldogs Open Fall Season In Puerto Rico
September 08, 2016 | Men's Tennis
ATHENS, Ga. - The Georgia men's tennis team heads south to the beaches of Puerto Rico to open its fall slate at the 2016 Palmas Tournament this weekend.
The event, which features three teams — Mercer, Florida State and Illinois — in addition to the Bulldogs, will run as a scramble format from Friday through Sunday. Georgia will play a round of singles and two doubles rounds on Friday, followed by one singles and one doubles on Saturday and one singles round on Sunday.
"The trip to Puerto Rico is a great way for our team to start the fall season," head coach Manuel Diaz said. "This will give our guys an opportunity to go against some really good competition and will especially help our younger players as they begin their college careers. One of the things we alway talk about at the University of Georgia is giving our student-athletes an exceptional experience — traveling to Puerto Rico is one of those terrific experiences that I think our team will remember for a long time."
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2016 FALL NOTES
Bulldogs Face Strong Field In Palmas Tournament
- Georgia faces two NCAA tournament teams from 2016 in this year's Palmas Tournament in Puerto Rico. Illinois finished ranked No. 18 in the Oracle/ITA Rankings a season ago, while Florida State wrapped up its season in Athens with a No. 26 final ranking.
No. 1 Signing Class Reports To Campus
- Georgia men's tennis claimed the top spot in the TennisRecruiting.net 2016 recruiting rankings, receiving all 22 first-place votes in the organization's media poll. The Bulldogs welcome four highly-ranked prospects to the 2016-17 lineup, including the top player in the nation in Nathan Ponwith, as well as fourth-ranked Robert Loeb, ninth-ranked Alex Phillips and 22nd-ranked Alex Diaz. The Bulldogs also added talented Georgia native Sam Dromsky to this year's roster. The Augusta native played No. 1 singles on two state championship teams at Lakeside High School during his outstanding prep career.
Bulldogs Looking For More After Four-Straight SEC Titles
- Georgia has plenty to build on this season after winning its fourth-straight SEC Championship and making its 23rd appearance in the NCAA semifinals. The Bulldogs lose three seniors -- Austin Smith, Nick Wood and Ben Wagland -- but return six letterwinners and add five players from the nation's No. 1 signing class. Georgia is primed for a big season, which will culminate in Athens with the NCAA Championships on May 18-29.
Georgia To Host 49th Annual Southern Intercollegiates
- The Bulldogs will once again host the Southern Intercollegiates on Sept. 23-26. Georgia has had much success in this event over the years, winning the singles title in four of the past five tournaments. Bulldog sophomore Wayne Montgomery will be looking for his third-straight singles title this season with wins in 2014 and 2015. Georgia head coach Manuel Diaz won back-to-back titles in 1974 and 75 and a doubles championship in 1973. Associate head coach Bo Hodge teamed with John Isner to win the doubles title in 2003.
Diaz Era Boasts Incredible Numbers
- In his 29 seasons as head coach of the Bulldogs, head coach Manuel Diaz has led his team to an impressive 26 Southeastern Conference Championships (17 regular season and nine tournament titles). In addition to four NCAA National Championships (1999, 2001, 2007 and 2008), Diaz's teams have also finished as NCAA runner-up on 11 occasions and have made 17 NCAA Final Fours.
NCAA Championships Return To Athens
- The 2017 NCAA Men's and Women's Tennis Championships will be held at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex for the 32nd time in school history on May 18-29. Georgia has hosted the men's championships on 24 occasions and the women's championships three times, in addition to four combined tournaments, most recently in 2014. The NCAA Championships return to Athens for the third time since 2012. Georgia played host to 13 NCAA Championships in a row from 1977-89. In 2006, the NCAA opted to have one combined site for the men's and women's championships. The Bulldogs have won the NCAA title six times, including five in Athens.
Core Group Of 2015-16 Roster Is Back
- Wayne Montgomery, Paul Oosterbaan, Walker Duncan, Emil Reinberg and Jan Zielenski all return to lead the Bulldogs in 2016-17. That group of five players combined to go 112-58 (.659) in singles play during last year's run to the NCAA semifinals. Montgomery played almost exclusively at No. 2 singles and No. 3 doubles, while Oosterbaan was Georgia's No. 3 singles player and No. 2 doubles for most of the year.
