Three Georgia Gwinnett College men's tennis entries will be playing for NAIA individual singles and doubles national titles following another strong day for the Grizzlies on Saturday in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Cup at the Rome Tennis Center in Rome, Georgia.

Two Grizzly doubles teams collected straight-set victories during the semifinal round, setting up an all-GGC final on Sunday.

DRAWS: SINGLES | DOUBLES

Meanwhile, junior Santiago Villarruel, the No. 3 seeded singles player, rallied after dropping the opening set to win his semifinal match against No. 2-seeded Shaheed Alam of Keiser University (Florida).

An early loss of serve put Villarruel behind in dropping the first set by a 6-2 score. However, the GGC player turned the tables in the second set, jumping out to a quick 3-0 lead by breaking his first service game. He followed the same script by breaking Alam in the first game of the deciding third set and took a 5-3 lead behind a strong service game.

Villarruel closed out the match by once again breaking Alam's serve.

For the match, the junior successfully converted three of seven break points and won 69 percent of first service points.

Villarruel will face unseeded David Ekpenyong of Our Lady of the Lake University (Texas) for the NAIA singles championship on Sunday, October 13, at 8 a.m.

In doubles, senior Jeremias Rocco and Villarruel grabbed early momentum of their match against the No. 2-seeded team from SCAD Savannah (Georgia), winning the opening set by a 6-2 score. Rocco and Villarruel were the tournament's No. 3 seed.

The Grizzly duo won five of the first six games of the second game and secured a spot in Sunday's NAIA doubles final when Rocco served out the match for the 6-3 second set triumph.

Then, the senior tandem of Andoni Garmendia and Aleksandr Kalinin won six of the seven games of the first set against a Southeastern University (Florida) doubles team. The No. 4-seeded team jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the second set before the Fire won five straight games to take a 6-5 lead in the second set.

GGC held off a set point from the Fire tandem to force a tiebreaker, where the Grizzly teammates won the first four points to eventually win the semifinal match by 6-1, 7-6 (2) scores.

Sunday's NAIA doubles national championship match is a rematch of the earlier ITA South Regional in Lawrenceville, won by the Rocco-Villarruel pairing in straight sets.
 
Coach's Corner
"This was an incredible day for our men's team. They all showed what it means to play and be a Grizzly player. Having an all-GGC doubles final is amazing and I look forward to watching them both compete for a national title. Santiago played his heart out in the singles semifinal. He showed his true grit and played well in big moments to pull out the win. However, the job is not done yet," said Head Coach Hannah Keeling.
 
Up Next
Georgia Gwinnett College players will compete for singles and doubles NAIA individual national championships in the ITA Cup on Sunday, October 13, beginning at 8 a.m. at the Rome Tennis Center in Rome, Georgia.