It was most appropriate that seniors led the way on Senior Day as the No. 1-ranked Georgia Gwinnett College men's tennis team had a victorious return to the courts after a six-week break with a 6-1 victory against NCAA Division II University of West Alabama on Thursday afternoon at the GGC Tennis Facility.
The Grizzlies (17-0) won a pair of tiebreakers to sweep all three doubles matches and grab a 1-0 lead in the match. Seniors
Matthias Haim and
Daniel Czepielewski recorded a 6-3 triumph on the No. 2 court, while tiebreaker victories were needed on the No. 1 and No. 3 courts.
The senior tandem of
Valentino Caratini and
Agustin Tamagnone rallied from a 4-1 deficit at No. 1 doubles. Tamagnone executed a smash at the net for a break point that squared the match at 5-5. The GGC team then completed the comeback by winning the last three points of the tiebreaker to secure the victory 7-6 (6).
That came moments after senior
Vicente Lagos and freshman
Guilhem Perez Le Tiec captured seven of the eight points in a tiebreaker at No. 3 doubles to clinch the doubles point.
In singles, Caratini gave the hosts a 2-0 advantage with a 6-2, 6-0 victory on the No. 4 court. Lagos won by identical 6-2 set scores at No. 6 singles for the team's third point. Tamagnone followed by winning the opening set 6-4 before winning all six games of the second set to win the No. 4 match.
Sophomore
Alex Gurmendi picked up a 6-2, 7-5 triumph at No. 2 singles before Haim won a hard-fought three-set match on the No. 1 court. Haim won the first set 6-2 before losing a second-set tiebreaker to force a deciding third-set tiebreaker. The Grizzly senior rebounded to win the tiebreaker 10-4 to round out the team's winners.
GGC was playing its first match since a 4-0 victory against No. 5 Indiana Wesleyan University on March 11 in Lawrenceville.
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Georgia Gwinnett College will now prepare to defend its national championship at the 2022 NAIA National Championship tournament in Mobile, Alabama, starting May 17.
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