University of Georgia Athletics
Friday, February 9
Charlottesville, Va.
5 p.m.
University of Georgia
at
No. 6 Virginia
Photo by: Tony Walsh/UGAAA
No. 24 Georgia Travels to Face No. 6 Virginia, No. 25 North Carolina
February 08, 2024 | Men's Tennis
ATHENS, Ga. — The No. 24 Georgia men's tennis team will play its first road contests of the 2024 dual match season this weekend. The Bulldogs will travel to play No. 6 Virginia on Friday, Feb. 9 at 5 p.m. ET and No. 25 North Carolina on Sunday, Feb. 11 at 1 p.m.
No. 24 GEORGIA VS. No. 6 VIRGINIA
Date: Feb. 9, 2024
Time: 5 p.m. ET
Location: Charlottesville, Va.
Venue: Boar's Head Resort (Indoors)
Live Stats: https://gado.gs/bce
Live Video: https://gado.gs/bcd
No. 24 GEORGIA VS. No. 25 NORTH CAROLINA
Date: Feb. 11, 2024
Time: 1 p.m. ET
Location: Chapel Hill, N.C.
Venue: Chewing Tennis Center (Indoors)
Live Stats: https://gado.gs/9zn
Live Video: https://gado.gs/b9t
MEDIA INFORMATION
Georgia Season Stats: https://gado.gs/b9y
Virginia Season Stats: https://gado.gs/bcf
North Carolina Season Stats: https://gado.gs/bcg
BULLDOGS BULLETIN
Blue-Blood Pedigree: No. 24 Georgia opens the weekend against No. 6 Virginia, the two-time reigning NCAA National Champion, a matchup between two blue-blood programs. The Bulldogs and Cavaliers combine for 12 team national titles, which is over 15 percent of all National Championships recognized since 1946.
Dawgs in Heel Country: Georgia will be searching for its first win at Chapel Hill in program history. The teams have played 23 matches in the series, with 17 of them being played in the Classic City and four at neutral sites in postseason matchups. The Tar Heels have hosted the Bulldogs twice - on Feb. 2, 2003, and in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on May 4, 2019. North Carolina won both matches by a 5-2 and 4-1 score, respectively.
The First Serve: The Bulldogs are led on court one in singles by No. 68 Thomas Paulsell, who had played in just five dual matches before the start of the 2024 season. The junior, who has begun the year 3-1 in the top spot, entered the spring with a career-best singles ranking of No. 43 after earning his best win on Nov. 3, 2023, at the Georgia Tech Invitational against Mississippi St.'s No. 46 Nemanja Malesevic.
Ryan Colby is currently the highest-ranked singles player on the team at No. 44. The Southern California transfer has 12 singles wins on the year with an impressive 5-1 mark against ranked opponents.
In doubles, freshmen Freddy Blaydes and Niels Ratiu have been Georgia's choice on court one, where they are 2-1 and earned the point-clinching win in the team's opening match ITA Kickoff Weekend, where they beat Louisiana's Vasil Dimitrov and Mason Landreth by a 6-4 score.
New Year, New Niels: Freshman Ratiu began 2024 in impressive fashion, going undefeated in all 10 of his completed singles and doubles matches in January. The freshman began his win streak at the Gamecock Kickoff, where he won three singles matches and three doubles matches, all with different partners, across the event's three days.
Ratiu continued his winning ways by picking up victories in both singles and doubles competitions since the start of the dual match season. The Liège, Belgium extended his singles win streak to seven by earning his first ranked win against No. 67 Gabriele Brancatelli in Georgia's 5-2 win over Georgia Tech on Tuesday.
Last Time Out: The Georgia men's tennis team got back to its winning ways on Tuesday afternoon as it beat Georgia Tech, 5-2, extending the program's win streak over its in-state rival to 13 straight matches.
Freshman Cyrus Mahjoob earned his second match-clinching win of his career, winning in three sets for a team-best sixth time this year.
After dropping the doubles point for the first time this season to the Yellow Jackets, Georgia was able to rally and pick up five wins in the singles. No. 36 Colby lost for the first time in the spring season, but No. 43 Perez Peña and No. 41 Paulsell led the way in singles, winning their respective matches on courts one and two.
Dawgs in the Rankings: Georgia enters the week ranked No. 24 nationally by the ITA. The Bulldogs are one of six teams in the Southeastern Conference ranked in the top 25, joined by No. 4 South Carolina, No. 7 Tennessee, No. 12 Texas A&M, No. 11 Kentucky and No. 21 Alabama.
Georgia's successes in the fall put four athletes in the ITA singles rankings and a pair in the doubles poll. Junior Colby leads the team with a No. 44 ranking and also holds five ranked wins. He is closely followed by No. 51 Perez Peña, who picked up his first ranked win of the dual match season against No. 82 Keshav Chopra on Tuesday against the Yellow Jackets, and No. 68 Paulsell, who is 3-1 on court one.
In doubles, No. 25 Colby and Ratiu, the lone ranked tandem among the Bulldogs, are currently 8-3 together.
Scouting the Cavaliers: Virginia entered this week's ITA team rankings at No. 6 after back-to-back losses at No. 1 Ohio State and No. 16 Kentucky. The Cavaliers were without their top-ranked player, No. 19 Chris Rodesch, who Ethan Quinn defeated in the NCAA Singles Tournament semifinals in 2023, in the previous two matches.
Inaki Montes de la Torre checked in at No. 45 in the most recent singles rankings with a 5-3 record but has yet to play in a dual match this season. No. 56 Jeffrey von der Schulenberg played on court one in Virginia's previous two matches but has typically played in the third position. No. 104 Mans Dahlberg anchors the singles lineup, holding a 3-1 record on court six.
The Cavaliers' lone representatives in the doubles rankings are No. 12 Montes de la Torre and James Hopper. The pair advanced to the semifinals at the ITA All-American Championships together in October.
Scouting the Tar Heels: North Carolina now stands at No. 25 in the team rankings after losing at Illinois, 4-2, on Saturday, Feb. 3. The Tar Heels hold a 3-3 record, falling to the Fighting Illini twice and the Florida Gators.
In singles, No. 60 Benjamin Kittay is the team's top-ranked player. He has a 2-2 record on court three in the spring after going 4-1 in the fall. No. 75 Karl Poling, North Carolina's choice for court two, is 7-7 on the year. William Jansen plays on court one, where he has a 3-2 record, and is ranked No. 94. No. 110 Will Peters currently has 17 singles wins, good for most on the team.
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.
No. 24 GEORGIA VS. No. 6 VIRGINIA
Date: Feb. 9, 2024
Time: 5 p.m. ET
Location: Charlottesville, Va.
Venue: Boar's Head Resort (Indoors)
Live Stats: https://gado.gs/bce
Live Video: https://gado.gs/bcd
No. 24 GEORGIA VS. No. 25 NORTH CAROLINA
Date: Feb. 11, 2024
Time: 1 p.m. ET
Location: Chapel Hill, N.C.
Venue: Chewing Tennis Center (Indoors)
Live Stats: https://gado.gs/9zn
Live Video: https://gado.gs/b9t
MEDIA INFORMATION
Georgia Season Stats: https://gado.gs/b9y
Virginia Season Stats: https://gado.gs/bcf
North Carolina Season Stats: https://gado.gs/bcg
BULLDOGS BULLETIN
Blue-Blood Pedigree: No. 24 Georgia opens the weekend against No. 6 Virginia, the two-time reigning NCAA National Champion, a matchup between two blue-blood programs. The Bulldogs and Cavaliers combine for 12 team national titles, which is over 15 percent of all National Championships recognized since 1946.
Dawgs in Heel Country: Georgia will be searching for its first win at Chapel Hill in program history. The teams have played 23 matches in the series, with 17 of them being played in the Classic City and four at neutral sites in postseason matchups. The Tar Heels have hosted the Bulldogs twice - on Feb. 2, 2003, and in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on May 4, 2019. North Carolina won both matches by a 5-2 and 4-1 score, respectively.
The First Serve: The Bulldogs are led on court one in singles by No. 68 Thomas Paulsell, who had played in just five dual matches before the start of the 2024 season. The junior, who has begun the year 3-1 in the top spot, entered the spring with a career-best singles ranking of No. 43 after earning his best win on Nov. 3, 2023, at the Georgia Tech Invitational against Mississippi St.'s No. 46 Nemanja Malesevic.
Ryan Colby is currently the highest-ranked singles player on the team at No. 44. The Southern California transfer has 12 singles wins on the year with an impressive 5-1 mark against ranked opponents.
In doubles, freshmen Freddy Blaydes and Niels Ratiu have been Georgia's choice on court one, where they are 2-1 and earned the point-clinching win in the team's opening match ITA Kickoff Weekend, where they beat Louisiana's Vasil Dimitrov and Mason Landreth by a 6-4 score.
New Year, New Niels: Freshman Ratiu began 2024 in impressive fashion, going undefeated in all 10 of his completed singles and doubles matches in January. The freshman began his win streak at the Gamecock Kickoff, where he won three singles matches and three doubles matches, all with different partners, across the event's three days.
Ratiu continued his winning ways by picking up victories in both singles and doubles competitions since the start of the dual match season. The Liège, Belgium extended his singles win streak to seven by earning his first ranked win against No. 67 Gabriele Brancatelli in Georgia's 5-2 win over Georgia Tech on Tuesday.
Last Time Out: The Georgia men's tennis team got back to its winning ways on Tuesday afternoon as it beat Georgia Tech, 5-2, extending the program's win streak over its in-state rival to 13 straight matches.
Freshman Cyrus Mahjoob earned his second match-clinching win of his career, winning in three sets for a team-best sixth time this year.
After dropping the doubles point for the first time this season to the Yellow Jackets, Georgia was able to rally and pick up five wins in the singles. No. 36 Colby lost for the first time in the spring season, but No. 43 Perez Peña and No. 41 Paulsell led the way in singles, winning their respective matches on courts one and two.
Dawgs in the Rankings: Georgia enters the week ranked No. 24 nationally by the ITA. The Bulldogs are one of six teams in the Southeastern Conference ranked in the top 25, joined by No. 4 South Carolina, No. 7 Tennessee, No. 12 Texas A&M, No. 11 Kentucky and No. 21 Alabama.
Georgia's successes in the fall put four athletes in the ITA singles rankings and a pair in the doubles poll. Junior Colby leads the team with a No. 44 ranking and also holds five ranked wins. He is closely followed by No. 51 Perez Peña, who picked up his first ranked win of the dual match season against No. 82 Keshav Chopra on Tuesday against the Yellow Jackets, and No. 68 Paulsell, who is 3-1 on court one.
In doubles, No. 25 Colby and Ratiu, the lone ranked tandem among the Bulldogs, are currently 8-3 together.
Scouting the Cavaliers: Virginia entered this week's ITA team rankings at No. 6 after back-to-back losses at No. 1 Ohio State and No. 16 Kentucky. The Cavaliers were without their top-ranked player, No. 19 Chris Rodesch, who Ethan Quinn defeated in the NCAA Singles Tournament semifinals in 2023, in the previous two matches.
Inaki Montes de la Torre checked in at No. 45 in the most recent singles rankings with a 5-3 record but has yet to play in a dual match this season. No. 56 Jeffrey von der Schulenberg played on court one in Virginia's previous two matches but has typically played in the third position. No. 104 Mans Dahlberg anchors the singles lineup, holding a 3-1 record on court six.
The Cavaliers' lone representatives in the doubles rankings are No. 12 Montes de la Torre and James Hopper. The pair advanced to the semifinals at the ITA All-American Championships together in October.
Scouting the Tar Heels: North Carolina now stands at No. 25 in the team rankings after losing at Illinois, 4-2, on Saturday, Feb. 3. The Tar Heels hold a 3-3 record, falling to the Fighting Illini twice and the Florida Gators.
In singles, No. 60 Benjamin Kittay is the team's top-ranked player. He has a 2-2 record on court three in the spring after going 4-1 in the fall. No. 75 Karl Poling, North Carolina's choice for court two, is 7-7 on the year. William Jansen plays on court one, where he has a 3-2 record, and is ranked No. 94. No. 110 Will Peters currently has 17 singles wins, good for most on the team.
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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