Athens — Georgia women's tennis coach Jeff Wallace is like a human volley machine. He deflects every bit of credit that comes his side of the net right back into his players' court.

But when you're closing in on 500 wins — which he should run down this weekend — sooner or later you just have to stop and take a bow. To do it under the circumstances that Wallace did this season makes it more remarkable.

Never mind that the Bulldogs' top two players from last year's team graduated and Georgia was unable to get their two replacements through the NCAA clearinghouse. Wallace had something more significant to overcome in leading Georgia to 20-4 record and a No. 2-national seed, which it will take into today's regional match against Yale.

Last November, Wallace's son, Jarryd, a two-time middle-distance state champion at Oconee High, went in for a simple outpatient surgical procedure to repair a lower-calf injury in his left leg. A few days later he was rushed to St. Joseph's Hospital with a staph infection so severe that it at first almost took his life, then almost took his leg.

Last month, Jarryd ran a ceremonial 100-meter dash for Oconee to signify the progress made in his recovery. Forget the 22-second time; Mom, Sabina, met him at the finish line with an emotional embrace and Dad captured the whole thing on video from the stands.

In the meantime, the 17-year-old Jarryd — who is expected to recover — has inspired his father and his father's team.

"Jarryd knows all these ladies pretty well, so when all this went down it was pretty tough on them, too," said Wallace, the nation's winningest active coach at 498-123. "I think he's really inspired them. And they've inspired him, too."

Said senior captain Kelly Hyndman: "I've known Jarryd since he was much younger and he's always at our matches and been an avid supporter and fan. So right after this happened, we all got together and decided, 'Let's do it for Jarryd!'"

People wonder how Georgia, defeated 7-0 by Georgia Tech at the national indoors, was able to come back and beat the then-top-ranked Yellow Jackets 4-3 in Atlanta just two weeks later. It helped that Jarryd was in the stands.

"What he's gone through is incredible," said junior Monika Dancevic, who came back from being down 4-1 in the third set to clinch the match in a tiebreaker at No. 3 singles. "When we're out there and we're tired and hurting, we can look to Jarryd and realize what he's having to go through. Suddenly your legs aren't as tired anymore."

Not coincidentally, the Bulldogs have come back to defeat Arkansas and Florida, two other teams that beat them this season. That means they've beaten three of the four teams that defeated them.

"Now we want Baylor," Wallace said of the fourth. And they should want Baylor because that means they are playing each other for the championship. The Bulldogs have won two national championships under Wallace.

Should the Bulldogs defeat Yale, they'll play the South Carolina-VCU winner Saturday at 4 p.m. for the right to advance to Tulsa and the NCAA championships.

That whole 500 thing remains hard for Wallace to get his head around.

"It's interesting because at the beginning of the year somebody brought up that I could get to 500 this year and I just kind of laughed it off," Wallace said. "It wasn't until after we won the SEC Tournament that I even thought about it again and that was after some Auburn fan came up to me and said, 'Congratulations Coach, you're almost to 500.' It guess it just means I've been doing it for a long time and had a lot of great players come through this program."

Volleyed back like a true champion.