MOBILE, Ala. – For the second consecutive day, the Georgia Gwinnett tennis program rolled over an opponent at the NAIA National Championships as the top-ranked Grizzlies won 5-0 over eighth-seeded San Diego Christian at Mobile Tennis Center.
"We really got on them early again today," GGC Head Coach Chase Hodges said. "Any time that we can get up 3-0 after doubles, we feel pretty confident that we'll take care of the match. We just carried the momentum into singles, and the guys were getting it done on every court. We're feeling pretty good right now."
With the win, the Grizzlies, who now own a 14-2 record on the year, advance to Friday's semifinal round. Meanwhile, San Diego Christian ends its season, the first in school history, with a 15-8 record.
"We're going to be the most-rested team going into the semifinals because we've had two relatively quick matches," Hodges said. "Tomorrow will be very difficult, and it's nice to be able to get out of here quickly."
Much like Wednesday's match, GGC put its foot down early with a dominating doubles showing, beginning with the Australian tandem of Luke Morland and Lachlan McPhee, who picked up a quick 8-2 victory over Maksym Zasadnyy and Daniel Superlano.
Jordan Cox and Kevin Konfederak kept it going in 8-5 fashion, knocking off Brendan Aguilar and Leonardo Urquidi, who entered the match as the No. 8 doubles team in the country. Moments later, Matias Hatem and Connor Clements completed the sweep with an 8-1 decision over the 24th-ranked tandem of Alessadro Moriano and Adam De Romas.
In singles, all six GGC players appeared to be well on their way to victories, but it was Morland who finished first with a 6-1, 6-0 victory at No. 6 over De Romas. Clements, who is ranked 37th nationally, followed up a few minutes later, winning 6-0, 6-1 vs. Zasadnyy on line four.
In the other singles matches, second-ranked Cox led Aguilar, the No. 11 player in the country, 6-1, 4-1, and fifth-ranked Konfederak held a 6-0, 5-2 lead over 24th-ranked Urquidi at No. 2. Both Matias Hatem and Lachlan McPhee also had one-sided opening set victories before the match was called early in the second set.
GGC will return to Mobile Tennis Center on Friday to take on either Lindsey Wilson or Auburn-Montgomery in the semifinals as the team looks to defend its 2014 national championship. First serve is set for 10 a.m. Eastern.
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