University of Georgia Athletics
Bulldogs Ready To Get Started
January 29, 2026 | Women's Tennis, The Frierson Files
By John Frierson
Staff Writer
As the Georgia women's tennis team kicks off its dual-match season Friday at Georgia Tech — the start is a week late due to last weekend's winter weather, which nixed the ITA Kickoff event at the Lindsey Hopkins Indoor Courts — the Bulldogs are back where they were last May, as the No. 1 team in the country. But this is a very different team from the one that in 2025 captured the ITA National Team Indoor Championship and won the NCAA title.
"Having so many newcomers, it's a lot different experience than when the majority of your team are juniors and seniors, but it's fun," head coach Drake Bernstein said of leading this year's squad, which features five new players in their first seasons of college tennis plus several key contributors to last year's national championships.
"I like it from a coach's standpoint, because I feel like we're busy trying to teach, and that's what we do this for. We're pretty active with prepping from a mental standpoint and from a tennis prep standpoint. We've got our hands full in a good way."
Last spring, the Bulldogs were a senior-heavy squad led on the court by Dasha Vidmanova, Mell Reasco and Guillermina Grant. Vidmanova wrapped up her career as one of the most accomplished women's tennis players in NCAA history, becoming just the third player to ever win NCAA team, singles and doubles titles in her career. She went 20-4 in singles in dual matches at the No. 1 spot, while Grant, who mostly played at No. 5, went 20-3. Reasco, who was coming back from hip surgery, went 7-8 in completed matches, mostly at No. 3. Reasco and Vidmanova went 20-2 at the No. 1 doubles spot.
Back from last season's squad are four players who were critical to Georgia's success: seniors Anastasiia Lopata and Sofia Rojas, junior Aysegul Mert, and sophomore Hayden Mulberry. Lopata, the NCAA singles runner-up her sophomore year, went 16-5 in singles, primarily playing at No. 2. In doubles, she and Grant went 15-5 at the No. 2 spot. Mert went 20-2 in singles last year, the bulk of those coming on court 4, and she and Mulberry teamed up to go 16-5 at No. 3 in doubles. Rojas, who clinched the NCAA title against Texas A&M with her win at No. 6, went 20-4 in dual matches.
"It feels good being one of the seniors on this team," Rojas said. "I think just introducing college tennis to our new teammates, introducing the college tennis atmosphere, is pretty fun. We're excited to see how they adapt to this new environment."
Georgia was supposed to play a pair of matches last weekend when it was one of the ITA Kickoff hosts, but the other three schools, Washington State, San Diego State and Maryland, opted not to come due to the winter storm. That means the Bulldogs, including a lot of the newcomers, will see their first action of 2026 against rival Georgia Tech.
"I think all of us are very looking forward to starting our season," said Mert, who was ranked No. 8 in the country in the final singles poll of 2025, released in November. "We just want to compete as soon as possible."
Mert is Georgia's highest-ranked singles player at No. 8, followed by freshman Deniz Dilek at No. 15, sophomore newcomer Anastasiia Gureva at No. 25, Rojas at No. 50; freshman Patricija Paukstyte is ranked No. 55, and Lopata is No. 61. Those rankings are based on the fall collegiate results, though Georgia's players also played in numerous pro events during that time.
While Georgia might be the early-season No. 1 team, Bernstein isn't paying any attention to where his group is ranked. The Bulldogs, with a very different, younger roster from last spring, will go through some ups and downs over the course of the next four months, he said, especially given the depth of talent across the country and especially in the SEC.
"We're not going to go out and try to live up to a certain number and expectation," he said. "We just have to be the best that we can be."
In the latest ITA rankings, released Wednesday, Georgia is No. 1, Texas A&M is No. 2, Auburn is No. 4, LSU is No. 5 and Oklahoma is No. 6. Elsewhere in the top 25, Vanderbilt is ranked 12th, Tennessee 14th, Texas 18th and Florida No. 24. That's nine ranked teams from the SEC, plus Georgia plays at No. 3 North Carolina on Sunday.
Of the Bulldogs' 17 scheduled regular-season matches, nine are against ranked teams, plus the Bulldogs will play in the ITA National Team Indoor Championships starting Feb. 6. Gauntlets don't get much tougher than that.
"I would say that there are more than five teams in the SEC that could make a case for being top-10. I mean, I've never seen the conference this deep; never seen any conference this deep," Bernstein said. "It's going to be test after test after test, which is an exciting thing."
Georgia may be the defending national champions at both the ITA National Indoors and the NCAAs, but Rojas said she doesn't feel any added pressure this season to repeat. She and her teammates want to win every match they play, just like always, so in that sense, nothing has changed.
"I still feel like I want to accomplish so much with this team," she said. "It's a completely new team, basically, so I think with a new team comes new achievements, and we don't have to let up just because last year's team was really good. I think we need to prove ourselves now, as a new team. Whatever pressure there is, it's good to have. I think it gives you something to prove."
Staff Writer
As the Georgia women's tennis team kicks off its dual-match season Friday at Georgia Tech — the start is a week late due to last weekend's winter weather, which nixed the ITA Kickoff event at the Lindsey Hopkins Indoor Courts — the Bulldogs are back where they were last May, as the No. 1 team in the country. But this is a very different team from the one that in 2025 captured the ITA National Team Indoor Championship and won the NCAA title.
"Having so many newcomers, it's a lot different experience than when the majority of your team are juniors and seniors, but it's fun," head coach Drake Bernstein said of leading this year's squad, which features five new players in their first seasons of college tennis plus several key contributors to last year's national championships.
"I like it from a coach's standpoint, because I feel like we're busy trying to teach, and that's what we do this for. We're pretty active with prepping from a mental standpoint and from a tennis prep standpoint. We've got our hands full in a good way."
Last spring, the Bulldogs were a senior-heavy squad led on the court by Dasha Vidmanova, Mell Reasco and Guillermina Grant. Vidmanova wrapped up her career as one of the most accomplished women's tennis players in NCAA history, becoming just the third player to ever win NCAA team, singles and doubles titles in her career. She went 20-4 in singles in dual matches at the No. 1 spot, while Grant, who mostly played at No. 5, went 20-3. Reasco, who was coming back from hip surgery, went 7-8 in completed matches, mostly at No. 3. Reasco and Vidmanova went 20-2 at the No. 1 doubles spot.
Back from last season's squad are four players who were critical to Georgia's success: seniors Anastasiia Lopata and Sofia Rojas, junior Aysegul Mert, and sophomore Hayden Mulberry. Lopata, the NCAA singles runner-up her sophomore year, went 16-5 in singles, primarily playing at No. 2. In doubles, she and Grant went 15-5 at the No. 2 spot. Mert went 20-2 in singles last year, the bulk of those coming on court 4, and she and Mulberry teamed up to go 16-5 at No. 3 in doubles. Rojas, who clinched the NCAA title against Texas A&M with her win at No. 6, went 20-4 in dual matches.
"It feels good being one of the seniors on this team," Rojas said. "I think just introducing college tennis to our new teammates, introducing the college tennis atmosphere, is pretty fun. We're excited to see how they adapt to this new environment."
Georgia was supposed to play a pair of matches last weekend when it was one of the ITA Kickoff hosts, but the other three schools, Washington State, San Diego State and Maryland, opted not to come due to the winter storm. That means the Bulldogs, including a lot of the newcomers, will see their first action of 2026 against rival Georgia Tech.
"I think all of us are very looking forward to starting our season," said Mert, who was ranked No. 8 in the country in the final singles poll of 2025, released in November. "We just want to compete as soon as possible."
Mert is Georgia's highest-ranked singles player at No. 8, followed by freshman Deniz Dilek at No. 15, sophomore newcomer Anastasiia Gureva at No. 25, Rojas at No. 50; freshman Patricija Paukstyte is ranked No. 55, and Lopata is No. 61. Those rankings are based on the fall collegiate results, though Georgia's players also played in numerous pro events during that time.
While Georgia might be the early-season No. 1 team, Bernstein isn't paying any attention to where his group is ranked. The Bulldogs, with a very different, younger roster from last spring, will go through some ups and downs over the course of the next four months, he said, especially given the depth of talent across the country and especially in the SEC.
"We're not going to go out and try to live up to a certain number and expectation," he said. "We just have to be the best that we can be."
In the latest ITA rankings, released Wednesday, Georgia is No. 1, Texas A&M is No. 2, Auburn is No. 4, LSU is No. 5 and Oklahoma is No. 6. Elsewhere in the top 25, Vanderbilt is ranked 12th, Tennessee 14th, Texas 18th and Florida No. 24. That's nine ranked teams from the SEC, plus Georgia plays at No. 3 North Carolina on Sunday.
Of the Bulldogs' 17 scheduled regular-season matches, nine are against ranked teams, plus the Bulldogs will play in the ITA National Team Indoor Championships starting Feb. 6. Gauntlets don't get much tougher than that.
"I would say that there are more than five teams in the SEC that could make a case for being top-10. I mean, I've never seen the conference this deep; never seen any conference this deep," Bernstein said. "It's going to be test after test after test, which is an exciting thing."
Georgia may be the defending national champions at both the ITA National Indoors and the NCAAs, but Rojas said she doesn't feel any added pressure this season to repeat. She and her teammates want to win every match they play, just like always, so in that sense, nothing has changed.
"I still feel like I want to accomplish so much with this team," she said. "It's a completely new team, basically, so I think with a new team comes new achievements, and we don't have to let up just because last year's team was really good. I think we need to prove ourselves now, as a new team. Whatever pressure there is, it's good to have. I think it gives you something to prove."
Assistant Sports Communications Director John Frierson is the staff writer for the UGA Athletic Association and curator of the ITA Men's Tennis Hall of Fame. You can find his work at: Frierson Files.
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