The NAIA's top-ranked Georgia Gwinnett College men's tennis team swept all 12 matches over nationally ranked opposition on Friday to begin the Grizzly Invitational at the GGC Tennis Facility. The matches were the first home action for the team this spring.

The Grizzlies (6-0) defeated No. 11 University of the Cumberlands (Kentucky) by a 7-0 score before collecting a 5-0 win against No. 20 Our Lady of the Lake University (Texas) during in the afternoon.

The No. 3 team of senior Aleksa Ciric and sophomore Luis Francisco Sampedro clinched the doubles point against Cumberlands with a 6-3 victory. Earlier, senior Alex Gurmendi and sophomore Santiago Villarruel won six of the seven games on the No. 1 court.

Seniors Julius Kaufmann and Mihailo Radosavljevic picked up a 6-4 triumph at No. 2 doubles to maintain the momentum into singles.

A trio of 6-1, 6-1 singles victories clinched the match. First, Gurmendi was victorious at the top of the singles lineup before Villarruel followed with a triumph on the No. 6 court. Senior Charly Zick then posted the match-clinching point.

Francisco Sampedro was victorious on the No. 4 singles court by a 6-1, 6-2 score. Ciric rallied to win a hard-fought three-set match at No. 2 singles, coming back to win the second set 6-2 and then the deciding tiebreaker with a 10-6 score.

Sophomore Aleksandr Kalinin won his GGC debut with a 7-5, 6-4 triumph on the No. 5 court.

Later in the day, the NAIA's top-ranked doubles team of Gurmendi and Villarruel were victorious by a 6-3 score on the No. 1 court to clinch the doubles point. Kalinin and Kaufmann won all six games in the No. 2 match against Our Lady of the Lake. Ciric and Francisco Sampedro rounded out the doubles winners with a 6-2 victory on the No. 3 court.

Singles victors were Francisco Sampedro, who remained undefeated on the No. 4 court, with an impressive 6-1, 6-0 victory; Villarruel by identical 6-2 set scores; Zick, with a 6-1, 6-2 victory at No. 3 singles; and Gurmendi, a 6-1, 6-4 triumph on the No. 1 court.

The Grizzlies have won 23 consecutive matches.
"It was a super solid day for the team. Our doubles play was really good and we maintained that momentum into singles. I was pleased to get more matches for our players after the (ITA NAIA) indoors nationals. The guys continued to have high-level play," said Head Coach Hannah Keeling.
  Georgia Gwinnett College is scheduled to host SCAD Savannah (Georgia), a team receiving votes in the NAIA Top 25 poll, on Sunday, February 18, at the GGC Tennis Facility, starting at 11:30 a.m.