The players' names may be different, but the winning spirit remains the same as the NAIA's top-ranked and defending national champion Georgia Gwinnett College men's tennis team opened the spring season with a pair of 7-0 victories against NCAA Division II No. 25 Belmont Abbey College (North Carolina) on Saturday afternoon at the GGC Tennis Facility.
GGC (2-0) extended its winning streak to 170 consecutive matches, the longest in American collegiate sports.
Seven players were victorious in their first matches as Grizzlies, while four other players return from last year's team.
"The guys are fully invested in the culture here at GGC and what it means to be a Grizzly. Getting these matches under their belt and capturing that winning feeling is important for our newcomers. Getting two good dual match wins today was important for us," said Head Coach
Hannah Keeling, victorious in her first match leading the proud GGC men's tennis program.
Freshmen
Dhakshineswar Suresh and
Paras Dahiya went 4-0 in the doubleheader, teaming for a pair of doubles wins on the No. 1 court. Then, Suresh picked up straight-set victories on the No. 2 singles court against Christian Winstead, winning the second encounter by a 6-1, 6-0 score. Dahiya, the NAIA's No. 1 ranked singles player by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association, won by identical 6-2, 6-1 scores at No. 3 singles against Sullivan Monteith.
Junior
Aleksa Ciric won both of his singles match on the No. 4 court, defeating Peyton Williams 6-1, 6-1 in the morning before earning a 6-2, 6-2 triumph against Williams in the afternoon on the home courts.
Senior
Leonardo Sprovieri was victorious in doubles and singles action during the morning match. He teamed with classmate
Jose Dugo, a three-time NAIA national team title member, for a 6-4 victory at No. 2 doubles. Sprovieri then won 12 of the 13 games at No. 5 singles.
Freshman
Santiago Villarruel registered GGC's first singles match victory of the dual match season, winning 6-0, 6-1 on the No. 6 court to start the day. He later teamed with junior
Julius Kaufmann for a 6-1 win at No. 3 doubles. Junior
Mihailo Radosavljevic won his GGC debut match, defeating Belmont Abbey's Pedro Knippling 6-3, 6-2 on the No. 6 singles court in the afternoon.
Two returning players were victorious in Saturday's singles action. Junior
Alex Gurmendi won both of his matches on the No. 1 court, defeating Zak Vince 6-0, 6-3 in the morning before scoring consecutive 6-2 set scores against the same Belmont Abbey opponent in the second match of the day. Senior
Federico Bonacia won 12 of the 13 games at No. 5 singles during the afternoon. The duo then registered two wins in doubles action, winning all six games on the No. 3 court before picking up a 6-1 victory at No. 2 doubles later in the day.
"Having an experienced player like Alex (Gurmendi), who has been here for four years, is such a blessing in leading the newcomers. Our veterans are great leaders on and off the court for us. They take such pride in the GGC program," said Keeling.
"The guys came out with a lot of intensity and took care of business today, setting things up with strong play in doubles. It was great for our newcomers to get out on the court to finally compete and get some strong wins in their first dual matches," said Head Coach
Hannah Keeling.
Georgia Gwinnett College is scheduled to host NCAA Division II No. 13-ranked Lander University (South Carolina) on Tuesday, January 31, from the GGC Tennis Facility, starting at 2:30 p.m.
