The NAIA's top-ranked Georgia Gwinnett College men's tennis team picked up an impressive 6-1 victory Tuesday afternoon in its season debut at NCAA Division II No. 8 Lander University in Greenwood, South Carolina.

The Grizzlies have now won 148 straight matches and the program has achieved a 190-3 record in 10 seasons.

After splitting matches on the No. 2 and No. 3 doubles courts, the lone doubles point came down to GGC's No. 1 duo of seniors Valentino Caratini and Agustin Tamagnone pulling out a 6-2 victory against Lander's Bailey Horne and Matthew De Groot. Juniors Daniel Czepielewski and Matthias Haim won all six games on the No. 2 court to help give the team an early 1-0 lead.

Strong play continued in singles as the Grizzlies built a 4-0 lead behind three straight-set victories. Sophomore Alex Gurmendi registered a 6-1, 6-4 win on the No. 1 court before Caratini earned a 6-3, 6-0 victory in the No. 5 matchup. Haim won a second-set tiebreaker 7-3 to close out his match 6-4, 7-6 (3) at No. 2 singles for the fourth team point.

The two teams battled across three competitive matches to close out the contest. GGC rallied from first-set losses to capture two of those matches. After losing a first set tiebreaker at No. 3 singles, Tamagnone squared the match by winning the second set 6-4 and came out on top of the third-set tiebreaker, 10-4, against Lander's Hugo Regner. Tamagnone won the NAIA singles national championship last fall at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Cup.

Czepielewski also was victorious 6-4 in the second set on the No. 6 court and then completed the comeback with a 7-5 triumph in the deciding third set against Lander's Emilien Baradel.
  "This was a competitive match against a good team for our season opener. We got up 4-0 before three tight matches finished the day, and our guys stepped up in key situations to win two of those three. I was happy with the way Daniel (Czepielewski) played. After being inserted into the singles lineup after doubles, it was an impressive performance by him all the way around," said Head Coach Chase Hodges.
  Georgia Gwinnett College is scheduled to host Division II Belmont Abbey College (North Carolina) in a tripleheader on Saturday, February 5, from the GGC Tennis Facility, starting at 10 a.m.