Bulldogs Prepare for No. 16 Mississippi State on Saturday

ATHENS, Ga. – The University of Georgia men's tennis team is set for its sixth SEC contest of the season at home against No. 16 Mississippi State on Saturday, Mar. 15 at 1:00 p.m. E.T. Georgia sits at 9-6 (3-2) on the season, and the visiting Bulldogs are 14-3 (4-2).

Match 16 – No. 16 Mississippi State
Saturday, Mar. 15, 2025
Dan Magill Tennis Complex
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*PDF of Full Matches Notes Available Here

BULLDOG BULLETIN
The First Serve: Georgia currently sits in fifth place in SEC standings after its first five matches of conference play. This weekend, the Bulldogs will host the fourth-place SEC side in Mississippi State.

Georgia holds a 63-15 all-time series edge against Mississippi State, last taking down the fellow Bulldogs during the regular season in 2023. Georgia fell behind in the match after losing on courts one and three in doubles. With State holding a 1-0 lead into singles, Georgia needed four of the six singles courts to come out on top. No. 105 Blake Croyder was first off for the home side, levelling the score at 1-1. Then, the Dawgs stormed ahead taking all five remaining courts to secure the singles sweep and 6-1 win.

Mississippi State is currently ranked 16th in the nation in the ITA National Poll, jumping up from last week's No. 22 spot, after splitting last week's SEC contests. The Bulldogs first fell to No. 3 Texas, 3-4, before defeating No. 18 Oklahoma, 5-2. On Thursday night, Mississippi State defeated No. 39 Vanderbilt, 6-1, for its second ranked win of the season. State is led by juniors Benito Sanchez Martinez and Petar Jovanovic, while freshman Niccolo Baroni has found strong form in the spring with a 13-1 dual singles record. The Bulldogs head coach is Matt Roberts, assisted by Jake Jacoby and Trevor Gotkowski.

Prior to the dual match season, the Bulldogs put together several strong performances through the fall. Headlined by Thomas Paulsell's round of 16 run in the NCAA Singles Championships, three Bulldogs (Paulsell, Perez Peña and Pinto Sansano) qualified for the NCAA individual tournament. Paulsell qualified for the championships by way of finishing as a semi-finalist at the ITA Conference Masters Championships in Rome, Ga. Perez Peña qualified after being crowned co-champion of the ITA Southeast Regional, and Pinto Sansano after winning the 5-8 playoff at the ITA South Sectional. Interestingly, by reaching the round of 16 in the singles tournament, Paulsell was recognized as the program's 55th All-American.

The Bulldogs culled together 77 singles wins in the fall, 13 of which were over ranked opponents. In doubles, Georgia had 24 total wins - eight ranked. The Bulldogs individual records from the fall (spring dual match records in parentheses) are compiled below:

Singles:                                                            Overall:
Freddy Blaydes: 5-3 (1-2)                                      6-5
Ryan Colby: 11-7 (6-4)                                        17-11
Filipe Costa: 2-5 (3-0)                                            5-5
Parker Jacques: 5-3 (N/A)   5-3
Cyrus Mahjoob: 6-4 (2-0)   8-4
Parker Mariencheck: 2-5 (1-0)                               3-5
Thomas Paulsell: 13-6 (5-5)                                 18-11
Miguel Perez Peña: 9-6 (9-1) 18-7
Oscar Pinto Sansano: 9-6 (12-3)                           21-9
Niels Ratiu: 6-5 (7-5)                                            13-10
Gabriele Vulpitta: N/A (4-5)                                     4-5

Doubles (Teams):                                                       Overall:
Blaydes/Ratiu: 10-5 (3-0)                                               13-5
Paulsell/Colby: 7-4 (4-5)                                                11-9
Perez Peña/Pinto Sansano: 5-5 (N/A) 5-5
Costa/Mahjoob: 2-3 (N/A) 2-3
Jacques/Mariencheck: 0-4 (N/A) 0-4
Ratiu/Vulpitta: N/A (2-0) 2-0
Blaydes/Pinto Sansano: N/A (3-1) 3-1
Perez Peña/Ratiu: N/A (2-4) 2-4
Perez Peña/Jacques: N/A (1-0) 1-0
Paulsell/Pinto Sansano: N/A (1-1) 1-1
Perez Pena/Vulpitta: N/A (2-0) 2-0
Colby/Ratiu: N/A (0-2) 0-2

Doubles (Players):                                                       Overall:
Freddy Blaydes: 10-5 (7-2)                                              17-7
Ryan Colby: 7-4 (4-7) 11-11
Filipe Costa: 2-3 (N/A)     2-3
Parker Jacques: 0-4 (1-0) 1-4
Cyrus Mahjoob: 2-3 (N/A) 2-3
Parker Mariencheck: 0-4 (N/A) 0-4
Thomas Paulsell: 7-4 (6-6)                                               13-10
Miguel Perez Peña: 5-5 (7-4) 12-9
Oscar Pinto Sansano: 5-5 (5-2) 10-7
Niels Ratiu: 10-5 (8-7) 18-12
Gabriele Vulpitta: N/A (6-0) 6-0

*Arda Azkara, Cooper Johnson and Gabriele Vulpitta are entering their first semester with Georgia.
** Davis Taylor did not feature in ITA-sanctioned matches during the fall.

On The Cards:  In the last 15 contests against Mississippi State, Georgia owns a 10-5 record, and head coach Matt Roberts side has been ranked inside the top-25 in the nation for 10 of those match-ups. Last season, State beat Georgia in Starkville, 4-3. The home side took the doubles point with wins on courts ones and two. In singles, the two teams split the courts with Georgia taking wins on one, four and six, and Mississippi State clinching the overall match win with courts three, two and five. The visitors will be searching for their first win in Athens since 2018 when Mississippi State ran out 4-0 victors.

Last Time Out: Georgia flipped its SEC record from 1-2 to 3-2 with successive wins last weekend over No. 27 Kentucky at home and No. 64 LSU on the road.

On Friday against Kentucky, the Bulldogs faced early deficits on all three courts in doubles, and the Wildcats were ultimately to grab a 6-3 win on court one over No. 23 Freddy Blaydes/Niels Ratiu. Needing courts two and three to secure the point, Thomas Pausell/Oscar Pinto Sansano were able to break back on court two en route to a 7-5 win. Coming down to court three, where Miguel Perez Peña/Gabriele Vulpitta were once down 2-4, the Bulldog pairing were able to force the match to a tiebreak. The duo were successful in the tiebreak winning seven of 10 games to secure the 7-6(3) win and the doubles point. Into singles, Georgia was swift in grabbing the three additional singles wins it needed taking courts one, four and six in straight sets. Vulpitta's win on six marked his third match-clinching win of the season. Playing out singles, Niels Ratiu grabbed a win on court four, Ryan Colby lost a 10-point tiebreak third set to No. 121 Jack Loutit, and Thomas Pausell sealed the 6-1 win over Kentucky on court three.

On Sunday at LSU, another win on court three by Perez Peña/Vulpitta secured the doubles point for the Bulldogs. Like Friday's match against the Wildcats, Georgia wasted no time in securing the necessary wins for the match. Pinto Sansano was off first on court four, Perez Peña took down his opponent on one, and Vulpitta, for the second time in the weekend, took court six in straight sets for the match-clinching win over the Tigers.

Strong Starts from the Spaniards: Senior Miguel Perez Peña made his best start in dual match play of his career at 6-0 following the match against No. 5 Virginia. Perez Peña is now 9-1 after a career-high win in singles during the Tennessee match, beginning his stint on court one for the Bulldogs in conference play and winning both of his matches against Kentucky and LSU's number ones. Prior to this season, the Spaniards held a career-best start to the spring of 5-0 in 2023.

More, Perez Peña's 9-1 starts includes three ranked wins over – at the time – No. 115 Ioannis Xilas of Wake Forest, No. 15 Shunsuke Mitsui of Tennessee and No. 53 Jaden Weekes of Kentucky. Seven of Perez Peña's nine wins have come in straight sets.

Senior Oscar Pinto Sansano leads the team in singles wins this spring with 12. Sitting at 12-3, and recently having moved up to court four, every match that Pinto Sansano has won has come in straight sets up until his match-levelling win on court four against Andrii Zimnokh for No. 25 Alabama. Last weekend, Pinto Sansano was second off the courts against Kentucky's Eli Stephenson and first off the courts against LSU's Aleksi Lofman.

Finding Form: Freshman Gabriele Vulpitta, in his first season with the Bulldogs, has begun to find his form for Georgia.

In the last two matches, the freshman was responsible for the match-clinching win, both coming in straight sets. More, alongside senior Miguel Perez Peña, the duo have been responsible for securing the doubles point.

This season, Vulpitta now has four match-clinching wins and three point-clinching wins, featuring mainly on court six.
Top 25 Wins: Since 2020, Georgia has amassed 32 top-25 wins in regular season and post-season play. A list of each top-25 victory is compiled below.

2020: 4-2 vs. No. 10 Tennessee, 4-0 vs. No. 3 Ohio State, 4-1 vs. No. 11 Ohio State

2021: 4-3 vs. No. 14 N.C. State, 5-2 vs. No. 22 Mississippi State, 4-2 vs. No. 21 UCF, 4-3 vs. No. 20 Kentucky, 4-2 vs. No. 8 Texas A&M, 4-0 vs. No. 25 Texas Tech, 4-3 vs. No. 6 North Carolina

2022: 4-3 vs. No. 16 N.C. State, 4-3 vs. No. 6 Texas, 5-2 vs. No. 23 Mississippi State, 4-3 vs. No. 14 South Carolina, 4-2 vs. No. 5 Tennessee, 4-0 vs. No. 9 Ole Miss, 5-2 vs. No. 18 Alabama

2023: 4-3 vs. No. 16 Stanford, 4-3 vs. No. 8 South Carolina, 4-2 vs. No. 6 USC, 6-1 vs. No. 14 Auburn, 4-3 vs. No. 18 Tennessee, 5-2 vs. No. 4 Kentucky, 4-0 vs. No. 5 South Carolina, 4-3 vs. No. 20 Florida, 6-1 vs. No. 20 Mississippi State, 7-0 vs. No. 25 Ole Miss, 4-0 vs. No. 24 Florida, 4-0 vs. No. 21 Texas A&M, 4-2 vs. No. 10 Harvard

2024: 5-2 vs. No. 21 Alabama

2025 (so far): 4-2 vs. No. 16 Tennessee

Award-Winning: Following the first week of action, sophomore Niels Ratiu was announced as the first SEC men's tennis player of the week for the 2025 season.

Ratiu was efficient in the home openers for the Bulldogs. In singles play, Ratiu dispatched Mercer's Fouilhoux on court four in straight sets 6-0, 6-4 earning Georgia it's second singles point of the match. In the second match, Ratiu moved up to court two for the Bulldogs, blanking his opponent, Presbyterian's Pedro Cardoso, in straight sets, 6-0, 6-0 – the Bulldogs' first singles point of the match. Ratiu's appearance on court two against Presbyterian is his fourth career appearance in the position for Georgia. In doubles play, Ratiu maintained his court one presence from his freshman season playing alongside freshman Gabriele Vulpitta. The duo earned their first two wins over Mercer's No. 55 Stefanovic/Fouilhoux and Presbyterian's Mamalat/Vasilakis winning both matches 6-0. With the win over No. 55 Stefanovic/Fouilhoux, Ratiu now has 13 career ranked doubles wins and his first with Vulpitta.

Rank the Dawgs: In the ITA team rankings that released on Tuesday, Mar. 11, Georgia jumped up 20 spots to No. 30 overall.

Three Bulldogs are settled in the latest ITA singles rankings that released Tuesday, Mar. 4.

Leading off, Thomas Paulsell nestles No. 26, immediately followed by Ryan Colby at No. 27 - career high nod for the senior. Miguel Perez Peña jumped up to No. 32 in this week's edition, also a career-high singles ranking.

In doubles, Paulsell/Colby come in at No. 14 - tying their career-high ranking
individually and as a pairing. Freddy Blaydes/Niels Ratiu remain in the top-25 at No. 23 with the Spanish duo of Perez Peña/Oscar Pinto Sansano finding themselves at No. 47.

Across the SEC: Georgia is one of two schools in the SEC to have at least three players ranked inside the top-50 of the ITA singles rankings. Texas' Timo Legout, Sebastian Gorzny and Jonah Braswell all feature inside the top-50, just as Georgia's Paulsell, Colby and Perez Peña do.

Interestingly, Georgia is the only school in the SEC to have three players ranked inside the top-40 of the singles rankings.

On the doubles side, Georgia is the only school in the SEC to have two top-25 pairings in the rankings with Paulsell/Colby featuring at No. 14 and Blaydes/Ratiu featuring at No. 23.

New Faces, New Places: The Bulldogs welcomed three new faces to Athens for the 2025 season, with a key signing for the fall 2025 class.

VCU transfer Oscar Pinto Sansano joined the ranks for the fall campaign. Pinto Sansano began his collegiate career at Arkansas and compiled a 7-14 singles dual match record before spending transferring to VCU for two seasons. With VCU, Pinto Sansano held a 20-5 overall singles dual match record and was ranked as high as No. 31 in ITA doubles ranking. Prior to his collegiate career, he was regarded as the No. 53 junior in UTR world rankings.

In January, Grand Slam champion Gabriele Vulpitta arrived in Athens for the 2025 season and beyond. Vulpitta, a native of Rome, Italy, boasts an impressive resume with a junior doubles title at Wimbledon, as well as finishing as a 2023 junior doubles Roland Garros finalist. He also held career-high ATP rankings of No. 747 in doubles and No. 1168 in singles with a Universal Tennis Rating of 13.23. More, New Mexico transfer Arda Azkara now dons the red and black. Azkara compiled 50 singles wins with the Lobos and was named the Mountain West Co-Freshman of the Year in 2022. After his sophomore and junior seasons, Azkara became the first Mountain West player to earn back-to-back Player of the Year honors since Oliver Maiberger of San Diego State University from 2001-2003. The Turkish native recorded an 11-0 record at No. 1 singles for the Lobos last season and holds a 13.15 Universal Tennis Rating. Georgia native Cooper Johnson will join the Bulldogs in January. Johnson holds career-high recruiting rankings of No. 1 in the state of Georgia and No. 21 nationally. He holds a Universal Tennis Rating of 11.9 with a 3-2 record against other five-star recruits. Johnson also holds an ITF junior ranking of 3,157 and an ITF World Tennis Number of 16.5

Blue-chip recruit and Anderson, S.C. native Noah Johnston signed with Georgia for the fall of 2025, head coach Jamie Hunt announced last fall. The former No. 1 overall recruit in the nation holds a 5-5 record against fellow blue-chip prospects and a career-high ITF junior ranking of 50. Johnston has recent singles and
doubles wins at the J200 Tampico, a doubles championship at the J300 Barranquilla, and a doubles championship at the J300 San Jose while also featuring in the junior doubles draw of the 144th edition of the U.S. Open.

Head Coach Jamie Hunt: Jamie Hunt, who was part of Georgia's 2007 and 2008 NCAA National Championship teams as a player and served seven years on the Georgia men's tennis staff as an associate head coach, was tabbed to lead the Bulldogs' men's tennis program on Feb. 27, 2024.

Since returning to Athens in 2017, Hunt has twice been named the ITA Southeast Region Coach of the Year and helped the Bulldogs capture the 2023 SEC Championship with a perfect league record.

Hunt played for Coach Diaz from 2007-2010 and helped lead Georgia to a pair of national championships. Following his playing career, Hunt made his way to Nashville to become an assistant coach at Vanderbilt.

Hunt was a star tennis player and leader for the Bulldogs' tennis program from 2007 through 2010. His 116 singles wins rank 12th all-time in school history for the four-time All-SEC selection, while his combined singles and doubles record of 238-80 ranks third in the Georgia record book.

Hunt and his wife Kyndal Edwards Hunt met as seniors at the University of Georgia and have five children: Daughter Blakely, son Hayes, twins -- daughter Macy and son Hudson -- and son Ford.

Bulldogs Prepare for No. 16 Mississippi State on Saturday

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Arda Azkara

Freddy Blaydes

Ryan Colby

Filipe Costa

Parker Jacques

Cooper Johnson

Cyrus Mahjoob

Parker Mariencheck

Thomas Paulsell

Miguel Perez Peña

Oscar Pinto Sansano

Niels Ratiu

Davis Taylor

Gabriele Vulpitta