University of Georgia Athletics
Friday, March 24
Baton Rouge, LA
6 p.m.
University of Georgia
at
LSU
No. 7 Bulldogs Travel to the Bayou to Face No. 51 Tigers
March 23, 2023 | Men's Tennis
ATHENS, Ga. – The seventh-ranked University of Georgia men's tennis team will continue conference play at No. 51 LSU on Friday, March 24 at 6 p.m. ET at the LSU Tennis Complex in Baton Rouge.
#7 Georgia vs. #51 LSU
Date: March 24, 2023
Time: 6 p.m. ET
Location: Baton Rouge, La.
Venue: LSU Tennis Complex
MEDIA INFORMATION
UGA Season Stats: https://gado.gs/9xb
LSU Season Stats: https://gado.gs/aaz
Live Stats: https://gado.gs/aax
Live Video: https://gado.gs/aaw
Match Notes: https://gado.gs/ab5
SEC Crosscourt Cast by CrackedRacquets: https://gado.gs/aay
Social Media
Keep up with all the latest news and information on the Bulldogs by following UGA Men's Tennis on social media on Twitter and Instagram @UGATennis, on Facebook @UGAMensTennis, and online at GeorgiaDogs.com.
QUICK HITS
Conference Play Continues
The Bulldogs return to Southeastern Conference action on the road this week after a three-match homestand, going 3-0 against No. 39 Texas A&M, No. 56 Vanderbilt and No. 18 Tennessee. Most recently, Georgia completed a dramatic comeback against the Volunteers clinched by Philip Henning, putting the team alone atop the SEC standings.
Georgia holds the edge over LSU in the series, going 54-14 since 1957. The teams last competed this season on Jan. 29 during the first round of the ITA Kickoff Weekend event in Athens, where Georgia won 4-1. Last season, the Tigers came to Athens on April 3, 2022, where the Bulldogs swept them for the 13th time in 68 total matches. LSU last defeated Georgia in 2003.
The Bulldogs have played 12 ranked teams so far this season, going 8-4 in those matches, including five wins over top 25 teams. Georgia is one of three teams to finish in the top five of the SEC standings in each season since 2019 (Florida, Tennessee).
Diaz's Details
On the team's match against LSU…
"The emphasis in practice this week has been to be ready," said head coach Manny Diaz. "After a great, emotional battle this past weekend, it's imperative that we rest and rebound so that we get ourselves ready to play our best again. It's going to be away from home against a talented team that almost beat South Carolina last week, going 4-3 against them. They're very capable. We have to understand that everyone is going to play their best match against us. Everyone is going to be ready for us, and we need to expect their best, so that's been the focus of our preparation. I think our guys have been very coachable – they have listened well; they've had good practices and will be ready to go at a high level on Friday."
On the growth of LSU since the Kickoff Weekend…
"What I saw when we played them was a very talented team. I saw a team with a lot of new players, that was hungry and very capable. It may have been a month and a half ago, but that was a long time in our world. Both of our teams have had a lot of growth and are in completely different places. We are a much better team now, and I would say the same for them. We last played them at home and now we're on the road. This is a whole new set of challenges – they'll have a big crowd, it's a night match – it will be a completely different environment than what we last played them in. That's what we're preparing for, and we hopefully will be able to play in a high level in that moment and rise to the occasion."
Dawgs in the Rankings
In the latest team rankings from the Intercollegiate Tennis Association, Georgia moved up three spots and again checks in as the No. 10 team in the country.
Redshirt freshman Ethan Quinn is now No. 4 in the singles rankings and has won five of his previous six matches with a pair of match-clinching victories. The Fresno, Calif. native is the only freshman to have multiple wins on court one and one of three SEC players in the top five. With Henning now at No. 19, Georgia becomes one of five schools to have multiple players in the top 20 of the singles rankings.
Blake Croyder, the team's leader in singles wins with 19, moved to No. 99. With 95 career singles wins, the redshirt senior is eight away from entering the top 20 in program history. Teodor Giusca rounds out the ranked Bulldogs in singles at No. 116, appearing in the rankings for consecutive weeks for the first time this season. Giusca has won five of his previous six matches.
Trent Bryde and Quinn make up the top spot for Georgia in doubles and rose to the No. 9 pair in the country in the latest doubles poll. This is the highest the two have been ranked together, the first time that Bryde reaches the top 10 in doubles since 2021 and the career-best ranking in doubles for Quinn. The tandem has won seven matches this season on court one, including three point-clinching victories.
Clutch Clinching
In the five conference matches Georgia has played in, five different players have earned the match-clinching win in singles: Bryde against Alabama, Quinn against Auburn, Croyder against Texas A&M, Thomas Paulsell, in his first dual match result of the season did so against Vanderbilt and Henning capped off the Bulldogs comeback against Tennessee. In total, five different players have earned the winning point for Georgia in singles: Bryde with four, Henning with three, Quinn with two and Croyder and Paulsell with one each.
Straight-Set Wins
Georgia has straight-set victories in 36 of the team's 54 dual-match singles wins, good for a clip of 66.67 percent of the team's singles wins. No. 90 Croyder leads the team, with seven of his eight wins coming in straight-set decisions. Of those 34 straight-set wins, 18 of them came in matches that were 6-4, 6-4 or better. No. 90 Croyder and Perez Peña have five, No. 15 Henning and No. 2 Quinn have four each, No. 101 Giusca has two and Paulsell has one.
Last Year, Best Year
The five seniors that are using their final year of eligibility on the roster have made a huge impact on the success of the team this season.
Eight of Georgia's 11 wins this season have been clinched by seniors. Bryde has four, most recently clinching the team's win at No. 58 Alabama over Matias Ponce De Leon. Henning claims three, including the victory over Louisville's No. 36 Fabien Salle, earning the team a spot at the ITA National Indoor Championships. Croyder picked up his first match-clinching win of the year with his singles win against Guido Marson in three sets.
In doubles, two pairs of redshirt seniors have manned courts two and three in each match this season. Giusca and Henning have five victories on court two, while Croyder and Britton Johnston have seven wins on court three. Croyder and Johnston lead the team in doubles wins together this year with 13.
Four of the six Bulldogs to have at least seven wins in the dual match season are also seniors, with Bryde, No. 99 Croyder, No. 116 Giusca and No. 17 Henning all reaching the mark. Bryde, No. 99 Croyder and No. 17 Henning lead the team in dual-match singles wins, all with 10.
Scouting the Tigers
LSU moved to No. 51 in the team rankings after a 4-3 loss to South Carolina at home on Friday, March 17. They are 8-6 overall with a 0-5 mark in conference play and 5-2 at home. Ronnie Hohmann mans the top court for the Tigers and is ranked 58th in singles with an 11-8 record this year. Chen Dong, who has split time between courts two and three this season, is the only other player ranked at No. 92.
In doubles, Stefan Latinovic and Nick Watson lead the way for LSU with a No. 48 ranking and a 6-5 record on the top court. Watson is also ranked in doubles with Hohmann at No. 80, defeating South Carolina's No. 22 Jake Beasley and James Story on court two this past Friday in their only match together.
Series History
Georgia vs. LSU – UGA, 54-14
#7 Georgia vs. #51 LSU
Date: March 24, 2023
Time: 6 p.m. ET
Location: Baton Rouge, La.
Venue: LSU Tennis Complex
MEDIA INFORMATION
UGA Season Stats: https://gado.gs/9xb
LSU Season Stats: https://gado.gs/aaz
Live Stats: https://gado.gs/aax
Live Video: https://gado.gs/aaw
Match Notes: https://gado.gs/ab5
SEC Crosscourt Cast by CrackedRacquets: https://gado.gs/aay
Social Media
Keep up with all the latest news and information on the Bulldogs by following UGA Men's Tennis on social media on Twitter and Instagram @UGATennis, on Facebook @UGAMensTennis, and online at GeorgiaDogs.com.
QUICK HITS
Conference Play Continues
The Bulldogs return to Southeastern Conference action on the road this week after a three-match homestand, going 3-0 against No. 39 Texas A&M, No. 56 Vanderbilt and No. 18 Tennessee. Most recently, Georgia completed a dramatic comeback against the Volunteers clinched by Philip Henning, putting the team alone atop the SEC standings.
Georgia holds the edge over LSU in the series, going 54-14 since 1957. The teams last competed this season on Jan. 29 during the first round of the ITA Kickoff Weekend event in Athens, where Georgia won 4-1. Last season, the Tigers came to Athens on April 3, 2022, where the Bulldogs swept them for the 13th time in 68 total matches. LSU last defeated Georgia in 2003.
The Bulldogs have played 12 ranked teams so far this season, going 8-4 in those matches, including five wins over top 25 teams. Georgia is one of three teams to finish in the top five of the SEC standings in each season since 2019 (Florida, Tennessee).
Diaz's Details
On the team's match against LSU…
"The emphasis in practice this week has been to be ready," said head coach Manny Diaz. "After a great, emotional battle this past weekend, it's imperative that we rest and rebound so that we get ourselves ready to play our best again. It's going to be away from home against a talented team that almost beat South Carolina last week, going 4-3 against them. They're very capable. We have to understand that everyone is going to play their best match against us. Everyone is going to be ready for us, and we need to expect their best, so that's been the focus of our preparation. I think our guys have been very coachable – they have listened well; they've had good practices and will be ready to go at a high level on Friday."
On the growth of LSU since the Kickoff Weekend…
"What I saw when we played them was a very talented team. I saw a team with a lot of new players, that was hungry and very capable. It may have been a month and a half ago, but that was a long time in our world. Both of our teams have had a lot of growth and are in completely different places. We are a much better team now, and I would say the same for them. We last played them at home and now we're on the road. This is a whole new set of challenges – they'll have a big crowd, it's a night match – it will be a completely different environment than what we last played them in. That's what we're preparing for, and we hopefully will be able to play in a high level in that moment and rise to the occasion."
Dawgs in the Rankings
In the latest team rankings from the Intercollegiate Tennis Association, Georgia moved up three spots and again checks in as the No. 10 team in the country.
Redshirt freshman Ethan Quinn is now No. 4 in the singles rankings and has won five of his previous six matches with a pair of match-clinching victories. The Fresno, Calif. native is the only freshman to have multiple wins on court one and one of three SEC players in the top five. With Henning now at No. 19, Georgia becomes one of five schools to have multiple players in the top 20 of the singles rankings.
Blake Croyder, the team's leader in singles wins with 19, moved to No. 99. With 95 career singles wins, the redshirt senior is eight away from entering the top 20 in program history. Teodor Giusca rounds out the ranked Bulldogs in singles at No. 116, appearing in the rankings for consecutive weeks for the first time this season. Giusca has won five of his previous six matches.
Trent Bryde and Quinn make up the top spot for Georgia in doubles and rose to the No. 9 pair in the country in the latest doubles poll. This is the highest the two have been ranked together, the first time that Bryde reaches the top 10 in doubles since 2021 and the career-best ranking in doubles for Quinn. The tandem has won seven matches this season on court one, including three point-clinching victories.
Clutch Clinching
In the five conference matches Georgia has played in, five different players have earned the match-clinching win in singles: Bryde against Alabama, Quinn against Auburn, Croyder against Texas A&M, Thomas Paulsell, in his first dual match result of the season did so against Vanderbilt and Henning capped off the Bulldogs comeback against Tennessee. In total, five different players have earned the winning point for Georgia in singles: Bryde with four, Henning with three, Quinn with two and Croyder and Paulsell with one each.
Straight-Set Wins
Georgia has straight-set victories in 36 of the team's 54 dual-match singles wins, good for a clip of 66.67 percent of the team's singles wins. No. 90 Croyder leads the team, with seven of his eight wins coming in straight-set decisions. Of those 34 straight-set wins, 18 of them came in matches that were 6-4, 6-4 or better. No. 90 Croyder and Perez Peña have five, No. 15 Henning and No. 2 Quinn have four each, No. 101 Giusca has two and Paulsell has one.
Last Year, Best Year
The five seniors that are using their final year of eligibility on the roster have made a huge impact on the success of the team this season.
Eight of Georgia's 11 wins this season have been clinched by seniors. Bryde has four, most recently clinching the team's win at No. 58 Alabama over Matias Ponce De Leon. Henning claims three, including the victory over Louisville's No. 36 Fabien Salle, earning the team a spot at the ITA National Indoor Championships. Croyder picked up his first match-clinching win of the year with his singles win against Guido Marson in three sets.
In doubles, two pairs of redshirt seniors have manned courts two and three in each match this season. Giusca and Henning have five victories on court two, while Croyder and Britton Johnston have seven wins on court three. Croyder and Johnston lead the team in doubles wins together this year with 13.
Four of the six Bulldogs to have at least seven wins in the dual match season are also seniors, with Bryde, No. 99 Croyder, No. 116 Giusca and No. 17 Henning all reaching the mark. Bryde, No. 99 Croyder and No. 17 Henning lead the team in dual-match singles wins, all with 10.
Scouting the Tigers
LSU moved to No. 51 in the team rankings after a 4-3 loss to South Carolina at home on Friday, March 17. They are 8-6 overall with a 0-5 mark in conference play and 5-2 at home. Ronnie Hohmann mans the top court for the Tigers and is ranked 58th in singles with an 11-8 record this year. Chen Dong, who has split time between courts two and three this season, is the only other player ranked at No. 92.
In doubles, Stefan Latinovic and Nick Watson lead the way for LSU with a No. 48 ranking and a 6-5 record on the top court. Watson is also ranked in doubles with Hohmann at No. 80, defeating South Carolina's No. 22 Jake Beasley and James Story on court two this past Friday in their only match together.
Series History
Georgia vs. LSU – UGA, 54-14
- Last five meetings:
- Jan. 29, 2023, in Athens (ITA Kickoff Weekend) – UGA, 4-1
- April 3, 2022, in Athens – UGA, 4-0
- April 11, 2021, in Baton Rouge, La. – UGA 4-0
- March 9, 2019, in Athens – UGA, 5-2
- March 23, 2018, in Baton Rouge, La. – UGA, 4-0
Players Mentioned
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