The No. 1-ranked Georgia Gwinnett College men's tennis program has added its first Intercollegiate Tennis Association NAIA indoor national championship to its impressive resume.

CHAMPIONSHIP CENTRAL

The title came as the Grizzlies defeated Tennessee Wesleyan University by a 4-1 score Sunday evening in Overland Park, Kansas. It was a matchup of the nation's top two ranked NAIA teams and a rematch of the 2023 NAIA National Championship match.

GGC (4-0) captured the highly competitive doubles point with victories on the No. 1 and No. 3 courts. The nation's top-ranked duo of senior Alex Gurmendi and Santiago Villarruel won the last four games to defeat Gregorio Magnarelli and Maceo Simpson by a 6-2 score in the No. 1 match.

Seniors Julius Kaufmann and Mihailo Radosavljevic won the first five points of a tiebreaker on the No. 3 court against David Leon and Zoilo Rios. The Grizzly duo pulled out the tiebreaker by a 7-1 score to secure the doubles point for the dual match.

Meanwhile, GGC won the opening set on four of the six singles courts to seize control of the match.

Freshman Luis Francisco Sampedro increased the team's lead to 2-0 with a 6-3, 6-3 victory at No. 4 singles.

Gurmendi brought the Grizzlies within a point of the ITA NAIA indoors title with a strong 6-3, 6-2 triumph at the top of the singles lineup. However, Tennessee Wesleyan came back with a straight set win at No. 5 singles by a 6-4, 6-3 score.

At the same time, senior Mihailo Radosavljevic was in a tight match on the No. 6 court. He won the first set 6-3 and then won a second-set tiebreaker against TWU's David Leon in the second set.

That gave GGC its first ITA NAIA indoor national title and improved the program's record to 237-4 in 12 seasons. The college has also won the last nine NAIA national outdoor championships.

Other GGC players contributing to the team's latest championship were senior Aleksa Ciric, who played at No. 2 singles, and classmate Charly Zick, at No. 3 singles.
  "This was just an incredible performance by the team. Doubles was once again key to winning this match. Julius (Kaufmann) and Mihailo (Radosavljevic) really stepped up at No. 3 doubles. In singles, we knew that we were facing a good Tennessee Wesleyan team. It was nice to see our seniors leading on the court. Adding something (the ITA NAIA indoor title) that hasn't been done at GGC is a nice achievement. This team is special and I'm really looking forward for the rest of our season," said Head Coach Hannah Keeling.
  Georgia Gwinnett College is scheduled to host NCAA Division III Emory University (Georgia) on Saturday, February 10, at the GGC Tennis Facility, starting at 2 p.m.