MOBILE, Ala. – After spending the past year with a target on their backs, the Georgia Gwinnett men's tennis team stands just one match away from laying their hands on an NAIA National Championship for the second consecutive season as they picked up a 5-0 victory over Auburn-Montgomery in the semifinals on Friday morning at Mobile Tennis Center.

"The men are playing great tennis right now, and to be in this position a second year in a row is a phenomenal accomplishment," GGC Head Coach Chase Hodges said. "Our goal all year was to defend the title, and now we'll have the opportunity to do that. I couldn't ask for anything better than having the two best teams in the country going at it tomorrow."

The top-ranked Grizzlies, who are now 15-2 on the season, will be facing a rematch of last year's championship, which saw them claim of 5-1 victory over Embry-Riddle. GGC, which is in just its second year of postseason eligibility and third year overall, owns a perfect 7-0 record in NAIA Championship tournament matches, and this year, they've won all three matches in 5-0 fashion.

AUM, which was the No. 4 seed in the tournament, ended its season with a 21-6 record.

For the third straight day, GGC picked up its momentum with a perfect doubles round, led by the duo of Kevin Konfederak and Jordan Cox, who earned an 8-3 win over Birkir Gunnarson and Othmane Lalami at No. 1. Connor Clements and Matias Hatem followed up shortly thereafter with an 8-2 victory at the second spot over Francisco Mendieta and Luis Vivas, and GGC's Australian combo of Lachlan McPhee and Luke Morland closed out the sweep with a 9-8 decision over Miguel Grifol and Nicolas Pinones-Haltenhoff.

"That No. 3 doubles match put us in a commanding position and really gave us a lot of momentum heading into singles," Hodges said. "I have to give Luke and Lachlan a lot of credit because they really delivered with a lot of pressure on them. I think we're a much better doubles team than we're sometimes given credit for, and today, all three teams were outstanding. We're a hard team to beat when we get that 3-0 lead after doubles."

In singles, GGC dropped three sets, the first for any Grizzly in the event, but it wouldn't matter as McPhee got things started with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Lalami at the fifth spot, and Clements followed up just minutes later in 6-4, 6-2 fashion over Vivas to send GGC to the championship match. Clements has clinched all three matches for the Grizzlies in Mobile this week.

"Connor gets it done for us every match," Hodges said. "He's been playing high-level tennis for us ever since he got to GGC, and to have him at No. 4 is huge for us. He's a great kid too, and I'm happy with what he's been able to bring to the table."

In the other singles matches, Konfederak trailed Pinones-Haltenhoff 6-4, 5-4 at No. 2, and Grifol held a 6-4, 3-2 advantage over Hatem. Cox was leading Vincent Dubosclard 7-6, 5-0, and Tony Licata came back from a 6-4 opening set loss at the sixth spot to win 6-3 in the second and lead 2-0 in the third.

First serve against Embry-Riddle, which won 5-0 over Vanguard in the other semifinal, is slated for 10 a.m. Eastern.

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