Friday, March 21
Norman, Okla.
7:00 p.m.
University of Georgia
at
Oklahoma
Senior Thomas Paulsell during a doubles match against No. 16 Mississippi State at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex on Saturday, Mar. 15, 2025.
Photo by: Madison Keel/UGAAA
Bulldogs Set for SEC Road Trip, Facing No. 24 Oklahoma, No. 36 Arkansas
March 20, 2025 | Men's Tennis
NORMAN, Okla./FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The University of Georgia men's tennis team is set for its second full SEC road trip of the season facing No. 24 Oklahoma on Friday, Mar. 21, 2025, at the Headington Family Tennis Center before taking on No. 36 Arkansas on Sunday, Mar. 23, 2025, at the Billingsley Tennis Center.
Match 17 – No. 24 Oklahoma
Friday, Mar. 21, 2025
Headington Family Tennis Center
Live Streaming: https://gado.gs/cum
Live Stats: https://gado.gs/cun
Instagram: @UGATennis | X: @UGATennis | Facebook: UGAMensTennis
Match 18 – No. 36 Arkansas
Sunday, Mar. 23, 2025
Billingsley Tennis Center
Live Streaming: https://gado.gs/cul
Live Stats: https://gado.gs/cuk
Instagram: @UGATennis | X: @UGATennis | Facebook: UGAMensTennis
*PDF of Full Match Notes Available Here
BULLDOG BULLETIN
The First Serve: After last weekend's win over No. 16 Mississippi State, the Bulldogs moved up to fourth in the SEC standings (*entering Thursday's contests between Kentucky/Auburn and Tennessee/Alabama).
Georgia holds a 4-2 all-time series edge against Oklahoma, last defeating the Sooners during the 2023 postseason in the second round of the NCAA tournament, 4-1. The Bulldogs led off in doubles with wins from Blake Croyder/Britton Johnson on court three before Thomas Pausell/Ethan Quinn secured the point on court one. Into singles, Oklahoma answered on court three due to a win by retirement before Georgia rattled off straight set results on courts two, four and five to advance to the the round of 16 Super Regional against Harvard.
Oklahoma, ranked No. 24 in this week's ITA poll, sits at 10-6 (3-4) so far this season with wins over Omaha, Cornell, UT-Arlington, Tulsa, Air Force, Oral Roberts, Tulsa, Arkansas, No. 18 Tennessee and No. 24 Florida. The Sooners have fallen to No. 18 Stanford, No. 9 San Diego and No. 12 Texas A&M, as well as the last three consecutive SEC contests to No. 22 Mississippi State, No. 25 South Carolina and No. 39 Auburn. Led by head coach Jay Udwadia, Oklahoma has four freshmen (Kimhi, Lacides, Melero and Petr), three sophomores (Harazaki, Montsi and Trondson), two juniors (Alvarez and Nhavene) and one senior (Hasson) on the roster.
Junior Luis Alvarez has paced the Sooners in singles play this spring being the first to reach double digit wins in dual match play. Nine of the junior's 10 wins in the spring have come in straight set fashion, five of which took place in SEC play. Alvarez has played primarily on court four, holding a perfect 4-0 record in the position, with a winning record on courts two and three. Outside of Alvarez, freshman Oscar Lacides owns a 7-6 record in dual action on court one. Despite a 2-4 nod in conference play, Lacides is the Sooners' only ranked player and has one ranked win over No. 37 JC Roddick (Texas A&M) this spring. Interestingly, during the fall in the ITA All-American Championships, senior Miguel Perez Peña defeated Oklahoma's Kholo Monsti 6(1)-7, 6-4, 7-6(1) in the round of 64 of the main singles competition.
Prior to the dual match season, the Bulldogs put together several strong performances through the fall. Headlined by Thomas Paulsell's round of 16 run in the NCAA Singles Championships, three Bulldogs (Paulsell, Perez Peña and Pinto Sansano) qualified for the NCAA individual tournament. Paulsell qualified for the championships by way of finishing as a semi-finalist at the ITA Conference Masters Championships in Rome, Ga. Perez Peña qualified after being crowned co-champion of the ITA Southeast Regional, and Pinto Sansano after winning the 5-8 playoff at the ITA South Sectional. Interestingly, by reaching the round of 16 in the singles tournament, Paulsell was recognized as the program's 55th All-American.
The Bulldogs culled together 77 singles wins in the fall, 13 of which were over ranked opponents. In doubles, Georgia had 24 total wins - eight ranked. The Bulldogs individual records from the fall (spring dual match records in parentheses) are compiled below:
Singles: Overall:
Freddy Blaydes: 5-3 (1-2) 6-5
Ryan Colby: 11-7 (7-4) 18-11
Filipe Costa: 2-5 (3-0) 5-5
Parker Jacques: 5-3 (N/A) 5-3
Cyrus Mahjoob: 6-4 (2-0) 8-4
Parker Mariencheck: 2-5 (1-0) 3-5
Thomas Paulsell: 13-6 (6-5) 19-11
Miguel Perez Peña: 9-6 (9-2) 18-8
Oscar Pinto Sansano: 9-6 (12-4) 21-10
Niels Ratiu: 6-5 (8-5) 14-10
Gabriele Vulpitta: N/A (5-5) 5-5
Doubles (Teams): Overall:
Blaydes/Ratiu: 10-5 (4-1) 14-6
Paulsell/Colby: 7-4 (4-5) 11-9
Perez Peña/Pinto Sansano: 5-5 (N/A) 5-5
Costa/Mahjoob: 2-3 (N/A) 2-3
Jacques/Mariencheck: 0-4 (N/A) 0-4
Ratiu/Vulpitta: N/A (2-0) 2-0
Blaydes/Pinto Sansano: N/A (3-1) 3-1
Perez Peña/Ratiu: N/A (2-4) 2-4
Perez Peña/Jacques: N/A (1-0) 1-0
Paulsell/Pinto Sansano: N/A (2-2) 2-2
Perez Pena/Vulpitta: N/A (4-1) 4-1
Colby/Ratiu: N/A (0-2) 0-2
Doubles (Players): Overall:
Freddy Blaydes: 10-5 (7-2) 17-7
Ryan Colby: 7-4 (4-7) 11-11
Filipe Costa: 2-3 (N/A) 2-3
Parker Jacques: 0-4 (1-0) 1-4
Cyrus Mahjoob: 2-3 (N/A) 2-3
Parker Mariencheck: 0-4 (N/A) 0-4
Thomas Paulsell: 7-4 (6-7) 13-11
Miguel Perez Peña: 5-5 (7-5) 12-10
Oscar Pinto Sansano: 5-5 (5-3) 10-8
Niels Ratiu: 10-5 (8-7) 18-12
Gabriele Vulpitta: N/A (6-1) 6-1
*Arda Azkara, Cooper Johnson and Gabriele Vulpitta are entering their first semester with Georgia.
** Davis Taylor did not feature in ITA-sanctioned matches during the fall.
On The Cards: Georgia and Oklahoma have met on the court six times, most recently in 2023 where the Bulldogs ran out winners, 4-1, in the second round of the NCAA tournament. The two schools have met six total times, once during the regular season at home in 1998 where Georgia won 7-0, and five other times in the NCAA tournament with the Bulldogs winning three and Oklahoma winning two. Now, the two programs meet for the first time as conference foes.
Against Arkansas, Georgia has won nine of the last 10 matches. The Razorbacks' lone win in the last 10 was in Fayetteville in 2018, with a 4-3 decision in favor of the home team. Behind Auburn, Georgia's 89.7% win percentage against Arkansas is the second-best mark against all of its conference opponents.
Last Time Out: The Bulldogs recorded a third straight SEC victory last Saturday against, at-the-time, No. 16 Mississippi State.
State took the doubles points off wins on courts two and three over T. Paulsell/O. Pinto Sansano and M. Perez Peña/G. Vulpitta, respectively. The latter's defeat marks the duo's first loss as a pairing and Vulpitta's first doubles loss of his career.
Needing four wins in singles, sophomore Niels Ratiu quicky dispatched his opponent on court five, 6-3, 6-3, to level the match score at 1-1. No. 27 Ryan Colby followed up with a 6-2, 6-2 victory on court two giving Georgia the lead for the first time. State then levelled the match score on court four. In quick succession, courts one and three came to a finish, with Mississippi State winning on one and Georgia's No. 26 Paulsell on three meaning the match would be decided by Vulpitta on court six. After an extended tiebreak, in which Vulpitta was down 2-6 at one point, Vulpitta took the first set 7-6 (10-8) before falling 4-6 in the second set. In the third set, Georgia's freshman jumped out to a 3-2 lead in the third set before winning three of the final four games to clinch the match and Georgia's second top 20 win of the spring.
Strong Starts from the Spaniards: Senior Miguel Perez Peña made his best start in dual match play of his career at 6-0 following the match against No. 5 Virginia. Perez Peña is now 9-2 after a career-high win in singles during the Tennessee match, beginning his stint on court one for the Bulldogs in conference play and winning both of his matches against Kentucky and LSU's number ones. Prior to this season, the Spaniards held a career-best start to the spring of 5-0 in 2023.
More, Perez Peña's 9-2 starts includes three ranked wins over – at the time – No. 115 Ioannis Xilas of Wake Forest, No. 15 Shunsuke Mitsui of Tennessee and No. 53 Jaden Weekes of Kentucky. Seven of Perez Peña's nine wins have come in straight sets.
Senior Oscar Pinto Sansano leads the team in singles wins this spring with 12. Sitting at 12-4, and recently having moved up to court four, every match that Pinto Sansano has won has come in straight sets up until his match-levelling win on court four against Andrii Zimnokh for No. 25 Alabama. Against Kentucky, Pinto Sansano was second off the courts against Eli Stephenson and first off the courts against LSU's Aleksi Lofman.
Finding Form: Freshman Gabriele Vulpitta, in his first season with the Bulldogs, has begun to find his form for Georgia.
In the last two matches, the freshman was responsible for the match-clinching win, both coming in straight sets. More, alongside senior Miguel Perez Peña, the duo have been responsible for securing the doubles point.
This season, Vulpitta now has five match-clinching wins and three point-clinching wins, featuring mainly on court six.
Top 25 Wins: Since 2020, Georgia has amassed 32 top-25 wins in regular season and post-season play. A list of each top-25 victory is compiled below.
2020: 4-2 vs. No. 10 Tennessee, 4-0 vs. No. 3 Ohio State, 4-1 vs. No. 11 Ohio State
2021: 4-3 vs. No. 14 N.C. State, 5-2 vs. No. 22 Mississippi State, 4-2 vs. No. 21 UCF, 4-3 vs. No. 20 Kentucky, 4-2 vs. No. 8 Texas A&M, 4-0 vs. No. 25 Texas Tech, 4-3 vs. No. 6 North Carolina
2022: 4-3 vs. No. 16 N.C. State, 4-3 vs. No. 6 Texas, 5-2 vs. No. 23 Mississippi State, 4-3 vs. No. 14 South Carolina, 4-2 vs. No. 5 Tennessee, 4-0 vs. No. 9 Ole Miss, 5-2 vs. No. 18 Alabama
2023: 4-3 vs. No. 16 Stanford, 4-3 vs. No. 8 South Carolina, 4-2 vs. No. 6 USC, 6-1 vs. No. 14 Auburn, 4-3 vs. No. 18 Tennessee, 5-2 vs. No. 4 Kentucky, 4-0 vs. No. 5 South Carolina, 4-3 vs. No. 20 Florida, 6-1 vs. No. 20 Mississippi State, 7-0 vs. No. 25 Ole Miss, 4-0 vs. No. 24 Florida, 4-0 vs. No. 21 Texas A&M, 4-2 vs. No. 10 Harvard
2024: 5-2 vs. No. 21 Alabama
2025 (so far): 4-2 vs. No. 16 Tennessee, 4-3 vs. No. 16 Mississippi State
Award-Winning: This week, freshman Gabriele Vulpitta was named the SEC Co-Freshman of the Week for his performance against Mississippi State.
Freshman Gabriele Vulpitta recorded his third straight match-clinching win for Georgia against No. 16 Mississippi State to improve the team's record to 4-2 in conference play. After Mississippi State took the doubles point, Georgia needed four of the six courts in singles to walk out victors. After results came in on courts one through five, the overall match was tied 3-3; Vulpitta's match on court six would decide the match. In his first set, Vulpitta and Cortes headed to a tiebreak. Down 2-6 in the tiebreak, Vulpitta rallied winning five straight games before ultimately grabbing the first set 7-6 with a 10-8 decision in the tiebreak. Cortes took the second set, pitting the two freshmen in a third. Up 3-2 in the third set, Vulpitta won the three of the final four games to seal Georgia's second top 20 victory of the season.
Following the first week of action, sophomore Niels Ratiu was announced as the first SEC men's tennis player of the week for the 2025 season.
Ratiu was efficient in the home openers for the Bulldogs. In singles play, Ratiu dispatched Mercer's Fouilhoux on court four in straight sets 6-0, 6-4 earning Georgia it's second singles point of the match. In the second match, Ratiu moved up to court two for the Bulldogs, blanking his opponent, Presbyterian's Pedro Cardoso, in straight sets, 6-0, 6-0 – the Bulldogs' first singles point of the match. Ratiu's appearance on court two against Presbyterian is his fourth career appearance in the position for Georgia. In doubles play, Ratiu maintained his court one presence from his freshman season playing alongside freshman Gabriele Vulpitta. The duo earned their first two wins over Mercer's No. 55 Stefanovic/Fouilhoux and Presbyterian's Mamalat/Vasilakis winning both matches 6-0. With the win over No. 55 Stefanovic/Fouilhoux, Ratiu now has 13 career ranked doubles wins and his first with Vulpitta.
Rank the Dawgs: Georgia checked in at No. 28 in this week's ITA poll.
Three Bulldogs feature in this week's ITA Singles Rankings with another three pairings in the ITA Doubles Rankings.
Paulsell is No. 25, Perez Peña is No. 31 and Colby is No. 34. In doubles, Paulsell/Colby are No. 16, F. Blaydes/Ratiu are No. 26 and Perez Peña/Pinto Sansano
Across the SEC: Georgia is one of two schools in the SEC to have at least three players ranked inside the top-50 of the ITA singles rankings. Texas' Timo Legout, Sebastian Gorzny and Pierre-Yves Bailly all feature inside the top-50, just as Georgia's Paulsell, Perez Peña and Colby do.
Interestingly, Georgia is the only school in the SEC to have three players ranked inside the top-40 of the singles rankings.
On the doubles side, Georgia is the only school in the SEC to have two top-30 duos in the ITA doubles rankings with No. 16 Paulsell/Colby and No. 26 Blaydes/Ratiu.
New Faces, New Places: The Bulldogs welcomed three new faces to Athens for the 2025 season, with a key signing for the fall 2025 class.
VCU transfer Oscar Pinto Sansano joined the ranks for the fall campaign. Pinto Sansano began his collegiate career at Arkansas and compiled a 7-14 singles dual match record before spending transferring to VCU for two seasons. With VCU, Pinto Sansano held a 20-5 overall singles dual match record and was ranked as high as No. 31 in ITA doubles ranking. Prior to his collegiate career, he was regarded as the No. 53 junior in UTR world rankings.
In January, Grand Slam champion Gabriele Vulpitta arrived in Athens for the 2025 season and beyond. Vulpitta, a native of Rome, Italy, boasts an impressive resume with a junior doubles title at Wimbledon, as well as finishing as a 2023 junior doubles Roland Garros finalist. He also held career-high ATP rankings of No. 747 in doubles and No. 1168 in singles with a Universal Tennis Rating of 13.23. More, New Mexico transfer Arda Azkara now dons the red and black. Azkara compiled 50 singles wins with the Lobos and was named the Mountain West Co-Freshman of the Year in 2022. After his sophomore and junior seasons, Azkara became the first Mountain West player to earn back-to-back Player of the Year honors since Oliver Maiberger of San Diego State University from 2001-2003. The Turkish native recorded an 11-0 record at No. 1 singles for the Lobos last season and holds a 13.15 Universal Tennis Rating. Georgia native Cooper Johnson will join the Bulldogs in January. Johnson holds career-high recruiting rankings of No. 1 in the state of Georgia and No. 21 nationally. He holds a Universal Tennis Rating of 11.9 with a 3-2 record against other five-star recruits. Johnson also holds an ITF junior ranking of 3,157 and an ITF World Tennis Number of 16.5
Blue-chip recruit and Anderson, S.C. native Noah Johnston signed with Georgia for the fall of 2025, head coach Jamie Hunt announced last fall. The former No. 1 overall recruit in the nation holds a 5-5 record against fellow blue-chip prospects and a career-high ITF junior ranking of 50. Johnston has recent singles and
doubles wins at the J200 Tampico, a doubles championship at the J300 Barranquilla, and a doubles championship at the J300 San Jose while also featuring in the junior doubles draw of the 144th edition of the U.S. Open.
Head Coach Jamie Hunt: Jamie Hunt, who was part of Georgia's 2007 and 2008 NCAA National Championship teams as a player and served seven years on the Georgia men's tennis staff as an associate head coach, was tabbed to lead the Bulldogs' men's tennis program on Feb. 27, 2024.
Since returning to Athens in 2017, Hunt has twice been named the ITA Southeast Region Coach of the Year and helped the Bulldogs capture the 2023 SEC Championship with a perfect league record.
Hunt played for Coach Diaz from 2007-2010 and helped lead Georgia to a pair of national championships. Following his playing career, Hunt made his way to Nashville to become an assistant coach at Vanderbilt.
Hunt was a star tennis player and leader for the Bulldogs' tennis program from 2007 through 2010. His 116 singles wins rank 12th all-time in school history for the four-time All-SEC selection, while his combined singles and doubles record of 238-80 ranks third in the Georgia record book.
Hunt and his wife Kyndal Edwards Hunt met as seniors at the University of Georgia and have five children: Daughter Blakely, son Hayes, twins -- daughter Macy and son Hudson -- and son Ford.
Match 17 – No. 24 Oklahoma
Friday, Mar. 21, 2025
Headington Family Tennis Center
Live Streaming: https://gado.gs/cum
Live Stats: https://gado.gs/cun
Instagram: @UGATennis | X: @UGATennis | Facebook: UGAMensTennis
Match 18 – No. 36 Arkansas
Sunday, Mar. 23, 2025
Billingsley Tennis Center
Live Streaming: https://gado.gs/cul
Live Stats: https://gado.gs/cuk
Instagram: @UGATennis | X: @UGATennis | Facebook: UGAMensTennis
*PDF of Full Match Notes Available Here
BULLDOG BULLETIN
The First Serve: After last weekend's win over No. 16 Mississippi State, the Bulldogs moved up to fourth in the SEC standings (*entering Thursday's contests between Kentucky/Auburn and Tennessee/Alabama).
Georgia holds a 4-2 all-time series edge against Oklahoma, last defeating the Sooners during the 2023 postseason in the second round of the NCAA tournament, 4-1. The Bulldogs led off in doubles with wins from Blake Croyder/Britton Johnson on court three before Thomas Pausell/Ethan Quinn secured the point on court one. Into singles, Oklahoma answered on court three due to a win by retirement before Georgia rattled off straight set results on courts two, four and five to advance to the the round of 16 Super Regional against Harvard.
Oklahoma, ranked No. 24 in this week's ITA poll, sits at 10-6 (3-4) so far this season with wins over Omaha, Cornell, UT-Arlington, Tulsa, Air Force, Oral Roberts, Tulsa, Arkansas, No. 18 Tennessee and No. 24 Florida. The Sooners have fallen to No. 18 Stanford, No. 9 San Diego and No. 12 Texas A&M, as well as the last three consecutive SEC contests to No. 22 Mississippi State, No. 25 South Carolina and No. 39 Auburn. Led by head coach Jay Udwadia, Oklahoma has four freshmen (Kimhi, Lacides, Melero and Petr), three sophomores (Harazaki, Montsi and Trondson), two juniors (Alvarez and Nhavene) and one senior (Hasson) on the roster.
Junior Luis Alvarez has paced the Sooners in singles play this spring being the first to reach double digit wins in dual match play. Nine of the junior's 10 wins in the spring have come in straight set fashion, five of which took place in SEC play. Alvarez has played primarily on court four, holding a perfect 4-0 record in the position, with a winning record on courts two and three. Outside of Alvarez, freshman Oscar Lacides owns a 7-6 record in dual action on court one. Despite a 2-4 nod in conference play, Lacides is the Sooners' only ranked player and has one ranked win over No. 37 JC Roddick (Texas A&M) this spring. Interestingly, during the fall in the ITA All-American Championships, senior Miguel Perez Peña defeated Oklahoma's Kholo Monsti 6(1)-7, 6-4, 7-6(1) in the round of 64 of the main singles competition.
Prior to the dual match season, the Bulldogs put together several strong performances through the fall. Headlined by Thomas Paulsell's round of 16 run in the NCAA Singles Championships, three Bulldogs (Paulsell, Perez Peña and Pinto Sansano) qualified for the NCAA individual tournament. Paulsell qualified for the championships by way of finishing as a semi-finalist at the ITA Conference Masters Championships in Rome, Ga. Perez Peña qualified after being crowned co-champion of the ITA Southeast Regional, and Pinto Sansano after winning the 5-8 playoff at the ITA South Sectional. Interestingly, by reaching the round of 16 in the singles tournament, Paulsell was recognized as the program's 55th All-American.
The Bulldogs culled together 77 singles wins in the fall, 13 of which were over ranked opponents. In doubles, Georgia had 24 total wins - eight ranked. The Bulldogs individual records from the fall (spring dual match records in parentheses) are compiled below:
Singles: Overall:
Freddy Blaydes: 5-3 (1-2) 6-5
Ryan Colby: 11-7 (7-4) 18-11
Filipe Costa: 2-5 (3-0) 5-5
Parker Jacques: 5-3 (N/A) 5-3
Cyrus Mahjoob: 6-4 (2-0) 8-4
Parker Mariencheck: 2-5 (1-0) 3-5
Thomas Paulsell: 13-6 (6-5) 19-11
Miguel Perez Peña: 9-6 (9-2) 18-8
Oscar Pinto Sansano: 9-6 (12-4) 21-10
Niels Ratiu: 6-5 (8-5) 14-10
Gabriele Vulpitta: N/A (5-5) 5-5
Doubles (Teams): Overall:
Blaydes/Ratiu: 10-5 (4-1) 14-6
Paulsell/Colby: 7-4 (4-5) 11-9
Perez Peña/Pinto Sansano: 5-5 (N/A) 5-5
Costa/Mahjoob: 2-3 (N/A) 2-3
Jacques/Mariencheck: 0-4 (N/A) 0-4
Ratiu/Vulpitta: N/A (2-0) 2-0
Blaydes/Pinto Sansano: N/A (3-1) 3-1
Perez Peña/Ratiu: N/A (2-4) 2-4
Perez Peña/Jacques: N/A (1-0) 1-0
Paulsell/Pinto Sansano: N/A (2-2) 2-2
Perez Pena/Vulpitta: N/A (4-1) 4-1
Colby/Ratiu: N/A (0-2) 0-2
Doubles (Players): Overall:
Freddy Blaydes: 10-5 (7-2) 17-7
Ryan Colby: 7-4 (4-7) 11-11
Filipe Costa: 2-3 (N/A) 2-3
Parker Jacques: 0-4 (1-0) 1-4
Cyrus Mahjoob: 2-3 (N/A) 2-3
Parker Mariencheck: 0-4 (N/A) 0-4
Thomas Paulsell: 7-4 (6-7) 13-11
Miguel Perez Peña: 5-5 (7-5) 12-10
Oscar Pinto Sansano: 5-5 (5-3) 10-8
Niels Ratiu: 10-5 (8-7) 18-12
Gabriele Vulpitta: N/A (6-1) 6-1
*Arda Azkara, Cooper Johnson and Gabriele Vulpitta are entering their first semester with Georgia.
** Davis Taylor did not feature in ITA-sanctioned matches during the fall.
On The Cards: Georgia and Oklahoma have met on the court six times, most recently in 2023 where the Bulldogs ran out winners, 4-1, in the second round of the NCAA tournament. The two schools have met six total times, once during the regular season at home in 1998 where Georgia won 7-0, and five other times in the NCAA tournament with the Bulldogs winning three and Oklahoma winning two. Now, the two programs meet for the first time as conference foes.
Against Arkansas, Georgia has won nine of the last 10 matches. The Razorbacks' lone win in the last 10 was in Fayetteville in 2018, with a 4-3 decision in favor of the home team. Behind Auburn, Georgia's 89.7% win percentage against Arkansas is the second-best mark against all of its conference opponents.
Last Time Out: The Bulldogs recorded a third straight SEC victory last Saturday against, at-the-time, No. 16 Mississippi State.
State took the doubles points off wins on courts two and three over T. Paulsell/O. Pinto Sansano and M. Perez Peña/G. Vulpitta, respectively. The latter's defeat marks the duo's first loss as a pairing and Vulpitta's first doubles loss of his career.
Needing four wins in singles, sophomore Niels Ratiu quicky dispatched his opponent on court five, 6-3, 6-3, to level the match score at 1-1. No. 27 Ryan Colby followed up with a 6-2, 6-2 victory on court two giving Georgia the lead for the first time. State then levelled the match score on court four. In quick succession, courts one and three came to a finish, with Mississippi State winning on one and Georgia's No. 26 Paulsell on three meaning the match would be decided by Vulpitta on court six. After an extended tiebreak, in which Vulpitta was down 2-6 at one point, Vulpitta took the first set 7-6 (10-8) before falling 4-6 in the second set. In the third set, Georgia's freshman jumped out to a 3-2 lead in the third set before winning three of the final four games to clinch the match and Georgia's second top 20 win of the spring.
Strong Starts from the Spaniards: Senior Miguel Perez Peña made his best start in dual match play of his career at 6-0 following the match against No. 5 Virginia. Perez Peña is now 9-2 after a career-high win in singles during the Tennessee match, beginning his stint on court one for the Bulldogs in conference play and winning both of his matches against Kentucky and LSU's number ones. Prior to this season, the Spaniards held a career-best start to the spring of 5-0 in 2023.
More, Perez Peña's 9-2 starts includes three ranked wins over – at the time – No. 115 Ioannis Xilas of Wake Forest, No. 15 Shunsuke Mitsui of Tennessee and No. 53 Jaden Weekes of Kentucky. Seven of Perez Peña's nine wins have come in straight sets.
Senior Oscar Pinto Sansano leads the team in singles wins this spring with 12. Sitting at 12-4, and recently having moved up to court four, every match that Pinto Sansano has won has come in straight sets up until his match-levelling win on court four against Andrii Zimnokh for No. 25 Alabama. Against Kentucky, Pinto Sansano was second off the courts against Eli Stephenson and first off the courts against LSU's Aleksi Lofman.
Finding Form: Freshman Gabriele Vulpitta, in his first season with the Bulldogs, has begun to find his form for Georgia.
In the last two matches, the freshman was responsible for the match-clinching win, both coming in straight sets. More, alongside senior Miguel Perez Peña, the duo have been responsible for securing the doubles point.
This season, Vulpitta now has five match-clinching wins and three point-clinching wins, featuring mainly on court six.
Top 25 Wins: Since 2020, Georgia has amassed 32 top-25 wins in regular season and post-season play. A list of each top-25 victory is compiled below.
2020: 4-2 vs. No. 10 Tennessee, 4-0 vs. No. 3 Ohio State, 4-1 vs. No. 11 Ohio State
2021: 4-3 vs. No. 14 N.C. State, 5-2 vs. No. 22 Mississippi State, 4-2 vs. No. 21 UCF, 4-3 vs. No. 20 Kentucky, 4-2 vs. No. 8 Texas A&M, 4-0 vs. No. 25 Texas Tech, 4-3 vs. No. 6 North Carolina
2022: 4-3 vs. No. 16 N.C. State, 4-3 vs. No. 6 Texas, 5-2 vs. No. 23 Mississippi State, 4-3 vs. No. 14 South Carolina, 4-2 vs. No. 5 Tennessee, 4-0 vs. No. 9 Ole Miss, 5-2 vs. No. 18 Alabama
2023: 4-3 vs. No. 16 Stanford, 4-3 vs. No. 8 South Carolina, 4-2 vs. No. 6 USC, 6-1 vs. No. 14 Auburn, 4-3 vs. No. 18 Tennessee, 5-2 vs. No. 4 Kentucky, 4-0 vs. No. 5 South Carolina, 4-3 vs. No. 20 Florida, 6-1 vs. No. 20 Mississippi State, 7-0 vs. No. 25 Ole Miss, 4-0 vs. No. 24 Florida, 4-0 vs. No. 21 Texas A&M, 4-2 vs. No. 10 Harvard
2024: 5-2 vs. No. 21 Alabama
2025 (so far): 4-2 vs. No. 16 Tennessee, 4-3 vs. No. 16 Mississippi State
Award-Winning: This week, freshman Gabriele Vulpitta was named the SEC Co-Freshman of the Week for his performance against Mississippi State.
Freshman Gabriele Vulpitta recorded his third straight match-clinching win for Georgia against No. 16 Mississippi State to improve the team's record to 4-2 in conference play. After Mississippi State took the doubles point, Georgia needed four of the six courts in singles to walk out victors. After results came in on courts one through five, the overall match was tied 3-3; Vulpitta's match on court six would decide the match. In his first set, Vulpitta and Cortes headed to a tiebreak. Down 2-6 in the tiebreak, Vulpitta rallied winning five straight games before ultimately grabbing the first set 7-6 with a 10-8 decision in the tiebreak. Cortes took the second set, pitting the two freshmen in a third. Up 3-2 in the third set, Vulpitta won the three of the final four games to seal Georgia's second top 20 victory of the season.
Following the first week of action, sophomore Niels Ratiu was announced as the first SEC men's tennis player of the week for the 2025 season.
Ratiu was efficient in the home openers for the Bulldogs. In singles play, Ratiu dispatched Mercer's Fouilhoux on court four in straight sets 6-0, 6-4 earning Georgia it's second singles point of the match. In the second match, Ratiu moved up to court two for the Bulldogs, blanking his opponent, Presbyterian's Pedro Cardoso, in straight sets, 6-0, 6-0 – the Bulldogs' first singles point of the match. Ratiu's appearance on court two against Presbyterian is his fourth career appearance in the position for Georgia. In doubles play, Ratiu maintained his court one presence from his freshman season playing alongside freshman Gabriele Vulpitta. The duo earned their first two wins over Mercer's No. 55 Stefanovic/Fouilhoux and Presbyterian's Mamalat/Vasilakis winning both matches 6-0. With the win over No. 55 Stefanovic/Fouilhoux, Ratiu now has 13 career ranked doubles wins and his first with Vulpitta.
Rank the Dawgs: Georgia checked in at No. 28 in this week's ITA poll.
Three Bulldogs feature in this week's ITA Singles Rankings with another three pairings in the ITA Doubles Rankings.
Paulsell is No. 25, Perez Peña is No. 31 and Colby is No. 34. In doubles, Paulsell/Colby are No. 16, F. Blaydes/Ratiu are No. 26 and Perez Peña/Pinto Sansano
Across the SEC: Georgia is one of two schools in the SEC to have at least three players ranked inside the top-50 of the ITA singles rankings. Texas' Timo Legout, Sebastian Gorzny and Pierre-Yves Bailly all feature inside the top-50, just as Georgia's Paulsell, Perez Peña and Colby do.
Interestingly, Georgia is the only school in the SEC to have three players ranked inside the top-40 of the singles rankings.
On the doubles side, Georgia is the only school in the SEC to have two top-30 duos in the ITA doubles rankings with No. 16 Paulsell/Colby and No. 26 Blaydes/Ratiu.
New Faces, New Places: The Bulldogs welcomed three new faces to Athens for the 2025 season, with a key signing for the fall 2025 class.
VCU transfer Oscar Pinto Sansano joined the ranks for the fall campaign. Pinto Sansano began his collegiate career at Arkansas and compiled a 7-14 singles dual match record before spending transferring to VCU for two seasons. With VCU, Pinto Sansano held a 20-5 overall singles dual match record and was ranked as high as No. 31 in ITA doubles ranking. Prior to his collegiate career, he was regarded as the No. 53 junior in UTR world rankings.
In January, Grand Slam champion Gabriele Vulpitta arrived in Athens for the 2025 season and beyond. Vulpitta, a native of Rome, Italy, boasts an impressive resume with a junior doubles title at Wimbledon, as well as finishing as a 2023 junior doubles Roland Garros finalist. He also held career-high ATP rankings of No. 747 in doubles and No. 1168 in singles with a Universal Tennis Rating of 13.23. More, New Mexico transfer Arda Azkara now dons the red and black. Azkara compiled 50 singles wins with the Lobos and was named the Mountain West Co-Freshman of the Year in 2022. After his sophomore and junior seasons, Azkara became the first Mountain West player to earn back-to-back Player of the Year honors since Oliver Maiberger of San Diego State University from 2001-2003. The Turkish native recorded an 11-0 record at No. 1 singles for the Lobos last season and holds a 13.15 Universal Tennis Rating. Georgia native Cooper Johnson will join the Bulldogs in January. Johnson holds career-high recruiting rankings of No. 1 in the state of Georgia and No. 21 nationally. He holds a Universal Tennis Rating of 11.9 with a 3-2 record against other five-star recruits. Johnson also holds an ITF junior ranking of 3,157 and an ITF World Tennis Number of 16.5
Blue-chip recruit and Anderson, S.C. native Noah Johnston signed with Georgia for the fall of 2025, head coach Jamie Hunt announced last fall. The former No. 1 overall recruit in the nation holds a 5-5 record against fellow blue-chip prospects and a career-high ITF junior ranking of 50. Johnston has recent singles and
doubles wins at the J200 Tampico, a doubles championship at the J300 Barranquilla, and a doubles championship at the J300 San Jose while also featuring in the junior doubles draw of the 144th edition of the U.S. Open.
Head Coach Jamie Hunt: Jamie Hunt, who was part of Georgia's 2007 and 2008 NCAA National Championship teams as a player and served seven years on the Georgia men's tennis staff as an associate head coach, was tabbed to lead the Bulldogs' men's tennis program on Feb. 27, 2024.
Since returning to Athens in 2017, Hunt has twice been named the ITA Southeast Region Coach of the Year and helped the Bulldogs capture the 2023 SEC Championship with a perfect league record.
Hunt played for Coach Diaz from 2007-2010 and helped lead Georgia to a pair of national championships. Following his playing career, Hunt made his way to Nashville to become an assistant coach at Vanderbilt.
Hunt was a star tennis player and leader for the Bulldogs' tennis program from 2007 through 2010. His 116 singles wins rank 12th all-time in school history for the four-time All-SEC selection, while his combined singles and doubles record of 238-80 ranks third in the Georgia record book.
Hunt and his wife Kyndal Edwards Hunt met as seniors at the University of Georgia and have five children: Daughter Blakely, son Hayes, twins -- daughter Macy and son Hudson -- and son Ford.
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Georgia Men's Tennis NCAA Round 2 vs NC State - Postmatch Interview - Coach Hunt
Sunday, May 04
Georgia Men's Tennis NCAA Round 1 vs UNCW - Video Recap
Saturday, May 03
Georgia Men's Tennis SEC Tournament vs Oklahoma Post-match Interview - Coach Hunt
Thursday, April 17
Georgia Men's Tennis Feature - Lifelong Bond: Miguel Perez Peña and Oscar Pinto Sansano
Tuesday, April 15
