Georgia Gwinnett College men's tennis is back in its familiar spot atop the NAIA landscape.
The top-seeded Grizzlies (25-0) captured the 2026 UTR Sports NAIA National Championship final with a 4-0 victory Saturday against No. 2 seed Tennessee Wesleyan University at the Mobile (Alabama) Tennis Center.
GGC won 10 straight titles from 2014-24 but lost in last season's title match.
Redemption this year was accomplished by a determined group of seniors.
"I am so proud of the guys. Our mission from the start of the season was to bring the title back to GGC. This was our 11th title in 12 years. It was an amazing effort from top to bottom of the lineup. We had amazing senior leadership," said Head Coach
Tom Rees.
Georgia Gwinnett's 11 national titles tie the program with the University of Redlands (California) for the most championships in NAIA men's tennis history.
Saturday's championship match started with the Grizzlies capturing a hotly contested doubles point, with the early 1-0 advantage coming down to a victory on the No. 2 court.
The top-ranked senior duo of
Luis Francisco Sampedro and
Santiago Villarruel won six of its seven games to pick up a convincing triumph at the top of the lineup. The tandem posted a 16-1 record in doubles matches this spring after winning the NAIA doubles national championship at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Cup last fall.
"Santiago and Luis showed their experience and leadership. They led us today," stated Rees.
Tennessee Wesleyan (22-3) entered the national championship contest with a 17-match winning streak. The Bulldogs evened the doubles portion with David Leon and Serafin Zund collecting a 6-2 victory on the No. 3 court.
That's when another GGC senior stepped up to give GGC the early advantage.
Francisco Perez Esnaola and sophomore
Gian Durrer won the last three games at No. 2 doubles to defeat Tennessee Wesleyan's Agustin Gaia and Mario Monclus by a 6-4 score.
"The way that we won the doubles point, winning a deuce (40-40) point to get the break, going ahead 5-4 and then holding serve after being 30-30 showed that we were going to be poised for the big moments in this match," stated Rees.
Riding high with a 1-0 lead in the dual match, the Grizzlies started singles play by winning the opening set on four of the six courts.
Villarruel closed out his award-winning career in grand style with a decisive 6-0, 6-2 victory at No. 1 singles. The senior has been a member of three NAIA title teams, along with three ITA NAIA indoor championship squads. The Benito Juarez, Argentina, native also has captured five individual national championships, including three doubles crowns.
"I was a little emotional after doubles knowing this was my last singles match at GGC. I had a lot of energy and played one of the best matches of my career," noted Villarruel.
Moments later, junior
Kanan Gasimov put GGC on the brink of the title with the third point of the match after a 6-2, 6-2 triumph on the No. 6 court.
Tennessee Wesleyan attempted to turn the momentum in its direction as Zund led the No. 2 match against Francisco Sampedro, in a deciding third set, and Santiago Russo was on top of GGC's Perez Esnaola by a 4-1 score in the second set after winning the opening set by a 6-4 score.
Meanwhile, Georgia Gwinnett senior
Juan Carlos Garcia was in the process of flipping his No. 5 singles match, leading 5-2 in the second set after dropping the first set against Asier Pascual.
GGC's match-clinching point came from freshman
Yerassyl Yerdilda at No. 3 singles. Yerdilda, who joined the program in January, started the match strong against Chanon Phunsawat by winning six of the seven games in the first set. He then rallied from a 3-1 deficit in the second set to win the last five games and closed out the championship with a 6-1, 6-3 victory.
"Great teams have tremendous leadership from within," said Rees, who was in his first year leading the GGC tennis program. "Everyone was committed to this (championship) goal. Santiago told me at the beginning of the season that he was going to play his best tennis in Mobile. Seeing him and Luis (Francisco Sampedro) celebrate at the end is the perfect ending."
Villarruel added, "This championship means a lot. GGC has changed my life."
Georgia Gwinnett completed its 10th undefeated season and outscored its four opponents by a 16-1 record at the 2026 NAIA outdoors championships. This journey had a similar path to the 2026 ITA NAIA indoor national championship that was won in mid-February – defeating University of the Cumberlands (Kentucky), Southeastern University (Florida) and Tennessee Wesleyan over the final three rounds.
