Sunday, January 28
Clemson, S.C.
4:00 p.m. ET
University of Georgia
vs
Louisiana
Photo by: Kari Hodges/UGAAA
Georgia Set to Host ITA Kickoff Weekend Regional
January 27, 2024 | Men's Tennis
ATHENS, Ga. — The No. 19 Georgia men's tennis team will play host to a regional site of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Kickoff weekend on Jan. 28 and 29 at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex, where Auburn, Louisiana and No. 18 Texas A&M will compete for a spot at the ITA National Team Indoor Championships in New York on Feb. 16-19.
ITA KICKOFF WEEKEND
Date: Jan. 28-29, 2024
Time: 11 a.m. + 2:30 p.m. ET, both days
Location: Athens, Ga.
Venue: Dan Magill Tennis Complex
Sunday Match Schedule:
· Match 1 – No. 2 Texas A&M vs. No. 3 Auburn, 11 a.m. ET
· Match 2 – No. 1 Georgia vs. No. 4 Louisiana, 2:30 p.m. ET
Monday Match Schedule:
· Match 3 – Match one loser vs. Match two loser, 11 a.m. ET
· Match 4 – Match one winner vs. Match two winner, 2:30 p.m. ET
MEDIA INFORMATION
Tournament Central: https://gado.gs/bag
CrackedRacquets Crosscourt Cast, Sunday: https://gado.gs/bap
CrackedRacquets Crosscourt Cast, Monday: https://gado.gs/baq
Live Stats + Video: https://gado.gs/8mk
Georgia Season Stats: https://gado.gs/bau
Auburn Season Stats: https://gado.gs/bas
Louisiana Season Stats: https://gado.gs/bar
Texas A&M Season Stats: https://gado.gs/bat
BULLDOGS BULLETIN
Kickoff Success: The Dan Magill Tennis Complex has become a frequent spot as a regional site for the ITA Kickoff Weekend. This is the ninth time the Georgia men's team has been selected as a host site in the last 11 years and the 13th since the Kickoff Weekend format began in 2009.
Teams who finished in the top 15 of the final ITA team ranking of the 2023 season were selected as hosts for the Kickoff Weekend regional sites. The field of each regional was selected during the ITA Kickoff draft that took place virtually on June 14 and 15, 2023. As the host, Georgia is the top seed, followed by No. 2 Texas A&M, No. 3 Auburn and No. 4 Louisiana.
The winner of each regional will advance to the ITA National Team Indoor Championships on Feb. 16-19 at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing, N.Y. The Bulldogs have won the ITA National Team Indoor title on two occasions, doing so in 2006 and 2007.
Dawgs in the Rankings: Georgia enters the weekend ranked No. 19 nationally by the ITA. The Bulldogs are one of seven teams in the Southeastern Conference ranked in the top 25 to begin the season, joined by No. 2 South Carolina, No. 6 Tennessee, No. 10 Kentucky, No. 12 Mississippi St., No. 18 Texas A&M and No. 20 Florida.
Georgia's successes in the fall put four athletes in the ITA singles rankings and a pair in the doubles poll. After a trio of ranked wins in Austin, Texas, junior Ryan Colby leads the team with a No. 36 ranking. He is closely followed by No. 41 Thomas Paulsell, who picked up his highest-ranked win against No. 46 Nemanja Malesevic (Miss. St.) at the Georgia Tech Invitational, and No. 43 Miguel Perez Peña. Freshman No. 112 Cyrus Mahjoob, a semifinalist at the ITA Southeast Regional, closed out the ranked Bulldogs in singles. In doubles, No. 42 Colby and Niels Ratiu, the lone ranked tandem at the ITA Kickoff Athens regional, are currently 8-3 together.
Last Time Out: The Georgia men's tennis team defeated Eastern Kentucky in both matches of its season-opening doubleheader, 7-0 and 5-1, on Monday, Jan. 22 at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex.
In his first singles match on court one, No. 41 Paulsell delivered the second clinching win of his career, while on court three No. 112 Mahjoob notched his first clincher in the latter match. Georgia improved to 33-3 in season openers under head coach Manuel Diaz and begins the 2024 campaign with a 2-0 record. Freshman Freddy Blaydes, who enrolled and joined the team at the beginning of the month, earned his first collegiate singles wins, picking up a pair of straight-set victories.
Scouting the Ragin' Cajuns: Louisiana will come to Athens with a 0-3 record this season, falling to Florida Atlantic, Florida Gulf Coast and LSU. The Ragin' Cajuns returns eight players from its 2022-23 roster, which finished 12-10 overall with a 5-3 mark in Sun Belt competition. The team ended their season in the first round of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament, falling to Georgia State. Sunday's match will mark the first meeting between the Bulldogs and the Ragin' Cajuns.
Scouting the Tigers: Auburn returns eight players from its 2023 roster that finished 17-12 and in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in a 4-3 loss to Cornell. While the team is not ranked, the Tigers earned 27 singles wins in the fall and have two ranked singles players – No. 58 Tyler Stice and No. 77 Raul Dobai. In two matches, No. 58 Stice and No. 78 Dobai have each played on courts one and two, as the team beat Samford and Alabama St., both by a 7-0 result.
Scouting the Aggies: Texas A&M brought in four freshmen, two transfers and returned seven players from its 2023 roster. The Aggies finished with a 19-12 record last season, including a 7-5 finish in the SEC, before eventually falling in the second round of NCAA Tournament to eventual semifinalist TCU. Texas A&M is the only other ranked team at the ITA Kickoff Athens regional, coming in one spot ahead of the Bulldogs at No. 18. The Aggies' two ranked singles players are No. 109 JC Roddick and No. 93 Luke Casper. In the team's match at UCLA, the lone match the pair has played in, they competed on courts two and six, respectively. Texas A&M comes to the Dan Magill Tennis Complex with a 2-0 record, beating UCLA and Georgia Southern.
New-Look Bulldogs: Georgia's 2023-24 roster includes six freshmen and a transfer. The team has enrolled five-stars Mahjoob and Davis Taylor, four stars Parker Jacques and Parker Mariencheck as well as Belgium-native Raitu. The Bulldogs also signed USC transfer Colby, a former blue-chip prospect and All-Pac 12 honoree. Blaydes, who has a career-high International Tennis Federation World Juniors ranking of No. 117 and signed with the program in September, joined the team ahead of the Gamecock Kickoff.
Juniors Paulsell, Perez Peña and redshirt sophomore Filipe Costa are the only three players from the 2023 SEC regular season championship team still on the roster. Five of the remaining six used their final year of eligibility last season while Ethan Quinn opted to begin his professional career after winning the NCAA singles national championship in May.
Diaz Enters 36th Season: Manuel Diaz – the SEC's all-time wins leader with 769 career victories – begins his 36th season as the Georgia men's tennis coach. Diaz led the Bulldogs to another conference championship and a deep run in the NCAA tournament in 2023.
The United States Tennis Association Southern Tennis Hall of Fame coach has guided Georgia to 29 SEC championships, four NCAA national titles (1999, 2001, 2007 and 2008) and two Intercollegiate Tennis Association Team Indoor National Championships in 36 years. He has been named SEC Coach of the Year on seven occasions and the ITA National Coach of the Year three times.
Most recently, the Bulldogs captured the SEC crown with a perfect 12-0 conference record on their way to the NCAA quarterfinals. Under Diaz's guidance, redshirt freshman Quinn became just the fourth rookie since 1977 to win the NCAA singles championship and the third Georgia player to accomplish the feat, joining the elite company of Mikael Pernfors and Matias Boeker.
Keep up with all the latest news and information on the Bulldogs by following UGA Men's tennis on Facebook, Instagram and X @UGATennis or check out information online at georgiadogs.com.
ITA KICKOFF WEEKEND
Date: Jan. 28-29, 2024
Time: 11 a.m. + 2:30 p.m. ET, both days
Location: Athens, Ga.
Venue: Dan Magill Tennis Complex
Sunday Match Schedule:
· Match 1 – No. 2 Texas A&M vs. No. 3 Auburn, 11 a.m. ET
· Match 2 – No. 1 Georgia vs. No. 4 Louisiana, 2:30 p.m. ET
Monday Match Schedule:
· Match 3 – Match one loser vs. Match two loser, 11 a.m. ET
· Match 4 – Match one winner vs. Match two winner, 2:30 p.m. ET
MEDIA INFORMATION
Tournament Central: https://gado.gs/bag
CrackedRacquets Crosscourt Cast, Sunday: https://gado.gs/bap
CrackedRacquets Crosscourt Cast, Monday: https://gado.gs/baq
Live Stats + Video: https://gado.gs/8mk
Georgia Season Stats: https://gado.gs/bau
Auburn Season Stats: https://gado.gs/bas
Louisiana Season Stats: https://gado.gs/bar
Texas A&M Season Stats: https://gado.gs/bat
BULLDOGS BULLETIN
Kickoff Success: The Dan Magill Tennis Complex has become a frequent spot as a regional site for the ITA Kickoff Weekend. This is the ninth time the Georgia men's team has been selected as a host site in the last 11 years and the 13th since the Kickoff Weekend format began in 2009.
Teams who finished in the top 15 of the final ITA team ranking of the 2023 season were selected as hosts for the Kickoff Weekend regional sites. The field of each regional was selected during the ITA Kickoff draft that took place virtually on June 14 and 15, 2023. As the host, Georgia is the top seed, followed by No. 2 Texas A&M, No. 3 Auburn and No. 4 Louisiana.
The winner of each regional will advance to the ITA National Team Indoor Championships on Feb. 16-19 at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing, N.Y. The Bulldogs have won the ITA National Team Indoor title on two occasions, doing so in 2006 and 2007.
Dawgs in the Rankings: Georgia enters the weekend ranked No. 19 nationally by the ITA. The Bulldogs are one of seven teams in the Southeastern Conference ranked in the top 25 to begin the season, joined by No. 2 South Carolina, No. 6 Tennessee, No. 10 Kentucky, No. 12 Mississippi St., No. 18 Texas A&M and No. 20 Florida.
Georgia's successes in the fall put four athletes in the ITA singles rankings and a pair in the doubles poll. After a trio of ranked wins in Austin, Texas, junior Ryan Colby leads the team with a No. 36 ranking. He is closely followed by No. 41 Thomas Paulsell, who picked up his highest-ranked win against No. 46 Nemanja Malesevic (Miss. St.) at the Georgia Tech Invitational, and No. 43 Miguel Perez Peña. Freshman No. 112 Cyrus Mahjoob, a semifinalist at the ITA Southeast Regional, closed out the ranked Bulldogs in singles. In doubles, No. 42 Colby and Niels Ratiu, the lone ranked tandem at the ITA Kickoff Athens regional, are currently 8-3 together.
Last Time Out: The Georgia men's tennis team defeated Eastern Kentucky in both matches of its season-opening doubleheader, 7-0 and 5-1, on Monday, Jan. 22 at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex.
In his first singles match on court one, No. 41 Paulsell delivered the second clinching win of his career, while on court three No. 112 Mahjoob notched his first clincher in the latter match. Georgia improved to 33-3 in season openers under head coach Manuel Diaz and begins the 2024 campaign with a 2-0 record. Freshman Freddy Blaydes, who enrolled and joined the team at the beginning of the month, earned his first collegiate singles wins, picking up a pair of straight-set victories.
Scouting the Ragin' Cajuns: Louisiana will come to Athens with a 0-3 record this season, falling to Florida Atlantic, Florida Gulf Coast and LSU. The Ragin' Cajuns returns eight players from its 2022-23 roster, which finished 12-10 overall with a 5-3 mark in Sun Belt competition. The team ended their season in the first round of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament, falling to Georgia State. Sunday's match will mark the first meeting between the Bulldogs and the Ragin' Cajuns.
Scouting the Tigers: Auburn returns eight players from its 2023 roster that finished 17-12 and in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in a 4-3 loss to Cornell. While the team is not ranked, the Tigers earned 27 singles wins in the fall and have two ranked singles players – No. 58 Tyler Stice and No. 77 Raul Dobai. In two matches, No. 58 Stice and No. 78 Dobai have each played on courts one and two, as the team beat Samford and Alabama St., both by a 7-0 result.
Scouting the Aggies: Texas A&M brought in four freshmen, two transfers and returned seven players from its 2023 roster. The Aggies finished with a 19-12 record last season, including a 7-5 finish in the SEC, before eventually falling in the second round of NCAA Tournament to eventual semifinalist TCU. Texas A&M is the only other ranked team at the ITA Kickoff Athens regional, coming in one spot ahead of the Bulldogs at No. 18. The Aggies' two ranked singles players are No. 109 JC Roddick and No. 93 Luke Casper. In the team's match at UCLA, the lone match the pair has played in, they competed on courts two and six, respectively. Texas A&M comes to the Dan Magill Tennis Complex with a 2-0 record, beating UCLA and Georgia Southern.
New-Look Bulldogs: Georgia's 2023-24 roster includes six freshmen and a transfer. The team has enrolled five-stars Mahjoob and Davis Taylor, four stars Parker Jacques and Parker Mariencheck as well as Belgium-native Raitu. The Bulldogs also signed USC transfer Colby, a former blue-chip prospect and All-Pac 12 honoree. Blaydes, who has a career-high International Tennis Federation World Juniors ranking of No. 117 and signed with the program in September, joined the team ahead of the Gamecock Kickoff.
Juniors Paulsell, Perez Peña and redshirt sophomore Filipe Costa are the only three players from the 2023 SEC regular season championship team still on the roster. Five of the remaining six used their final year of eligibility last season while Ethan Quinn opted to begin his professional career after winning the NCAA singles national championship in May.
Diaz Enters 36th Season: Manuel Diaz – the SEC's all-time wins leader with 769 career victories – begins his 36th season as the Georgia men's tennis coach. Diaz led the Bulldogs to another conference championship and a deep run in the NCAA tournament in 2023.
The United States Tennis Association Southern Tennis Hall of Fame coach has guided Georgia to 29 SEC championships, four NCAA national titles (1999, 2001, 2007 and 2008) and two Intercollegiate Tennis Association Team Indoor National Championships in 36 years. He has been named SEC Coach of the Year on seven occasions and the ITA National Coach of the Year three times.
Most recently, the Bulldogs captured the SEC crown with a perfect 12-0 conference record on their way to the NCAA quarterfinals. Under Diaz's guidance, redshirt freshman Quinn became just the fourth rookie since 1977 to win the NCAA singles championship and the third Georgia player to accomplish the feat, joining the elite company of Mikael Pernfors and Matias Boeker.
Keep up with all the latest news and information on the Bulldogs by following UGA Men's tennis on Facebook, Instagram and X @UGATennis or check out information online at georgiadogs.com.
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