The Georgia Gwinnett College men's tennis team earned a pair of victories Thursday to advance to the semifinal round of the NAIA National Championship tournament at the Mobile Tennis Center in Mobile, Alabama.

The No. 2-seeded Grizzlies (20-1) opened with a 4-0 victory over No. 15 St. Thomas University (Florida) in resumption of Wednesday's Round of 16 match that was halted by inclement weather.

GGC then concluded the busy day with a 4-0 triumph against No. 7 Xavier University (Louisiana).

Against St. Thomas, the team captured the doubles point with senior Federico Bonacia teaming with freshman Santiago Villarruel for a 6-1 triumph on the No. 3 doubles court. Then, junior Alex Gurmendi and freshman Dhakshineswar Suresh picked up a 6-1 win against the Bobcats' top doubles team.

When play resumed in singles Thursday morning, Gurmendi and Suresh recorded straight-set victories on the No. 1 and No. 2 courts. That gave GGC a 3-0 advantage. Villarruel secured the match-clinching fourth team point with a 6-3, 6-1 win at No. 3 singles.

Later in the day, the senior tandem of Jose Dugo and Leonardo Sprovieri collected the first doubles win in the Xavier match with a 6-3 score on the No. 2 court. The Gurmendi-Suresh duo clinched the doubles point after a 7-5 triumph at the top of the lineup.

The positive momentum continued into singles as Suresh picked up a 6-3, 6-1 victory on the No. 2 court. Junior Mihailo Radosavljevic followed with a 6-2, 6-0 triumph at No. 6 singles.

Gurmendi then scored a 6-4, 6-3 victory on the No. 1 singles court to clinch the quarterfinal round match victory.

Georgia Gwinnett College has won eight straight NAIA national championships, with a 34-0 all-time record in NAIA postseason action.
  "We are getting sharper in each match and coming together as a team. We started with strong doubles against a good Xavier team and then didn't let up that positive momentum throughout the match," said Head Coach Hannah Keeling.
  Georgia Gwinnett College is scheduled to play No. 6 seed University of Northwestern Ohio in the semifinal round of the NAIA National Championship tournament on Friday, May 19, from the Mobile Tennis Center, starting at 2 p.m.