ATHENS — Georgia men’s tennis won its first SEC championship in six years Thursday, and it did it in dominating fashion.
After knocking off 12th-ranked Mississippi State 6-1 in an early-morning match to beat the weather, the No. 4-ranked Bulldogs (17-5, 11-0 SEC) head into Saturday’s regular-season finale against No. 25 Ole Miss undefeated in league play for the first time since 2016.
So, what happened to initiate the turnaround? That’s not an easy question to answer, coach Manny Diaz said.
“For the most part, it’s just been a change in our guys’ mindset,” said Diaz, in his 35th year as the Bulldogs’ coach. “They went from playing carefully to playing aggressively, and from being more conservative to believing and trusting in themselves. They play with a lot more resolve, and they have developed toughness in the process after going through some struggles early on.”
“What happened” is something tennis people have asked about the Bulldogs a lot in recent years. For a long, long stretch, few programs could match UGA’s accomplishments on the courts. There were the well-chronicled national championships, of course, but even more impressive was the consistency with which Georgia competed in its own league. The Bulldogs remained at the very top seemingly without fail.
Until recently. The Bulldogs lost their footing a bit after splitting the 2017 championship with Texas A&M and winning the tournament title that year. The Aggies won in 2018, then Florida claimed the past three. No champion was crowned in the pandemic season of 2020. Meanwhile, Georgia wasn’t in the mix.
Succinctly, there simply had been too much turnover at the top of the lineup. For years, Georgia always has had a dominant No. 1 at the top of singles. That had been missing in recent years.
The Bulldogs have that now in Ethan Quinn. Not only is the redshirt freshman from Fresno, California, currently ranked No. 3 nationally, but he carried the No. 1 ranking for a time. After a brief period of acclimation early in the season, Quinn seems to have figured out things. He carries a 22-10 record and five-match win streak in singles into Saturday’s match.
Add to that a ton of experience throughout the lineup and you have the formula for success. The Bulldogs’ roster includes four fifth-year seniors, including UGA veterans Trent Byrde, Blake Croyder and Philip Henning and a human rocket boost in Teodor Giusca, who joined the Bulldogs after four years at Clemson.
That steely veteran resolve has been on display in tight matches, such as last weekend when Croyder’s three-set, two-tiebreaker clinch helped the Bulldogs edge Florida 4-3. And while Thursday’s score indicates Georgia dominated a very dangerous Mississippi State squad, the truth is the Bulldogs once again lost the doubles point and had to secure the match via singles.
If there’s an Achilles heel on this squad, it’d be its doubles play. But Thursday’s singles sweep all came in straight sets and further underscored the talent throughout the line.
“You have to give it to these guys for really coming back out even after dropping sets and doing it the right way,” Diaz said. “They had to be constructive. Our guys are disciplined. These guys didn’t want to share our 42nd championship with anybody.”
That’s right, this week’s SEC crown was Georgia’s 42nd overall. That includes conference tournaments. It was Georgia’s 32nd regular-season title and 16th win over a ranked opponent this season.
So, regardless of what happens in Saturday’s 1 p.m. match, Georgia will be adding another SEC trophy to its already crowded case at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex. But, as one might expect, the Bulldogs want perfection. That extends to next week’s SEC Tournament at Auburn.
“It feels amazing,” Croyder said of finally being part of a championship team at UGA. “It did take me five years to do it, given our COVID year, but I’m very glad to hit that mark. There are plenty of amazing players that have made that happen and I’m glad I can be one of them.”
