Thursday, April 17
Columbia, S.C.
6:00 p.m.
University of Georgia
vs
Oklahoma
The University of Georgia men's tennis team during a match against No. 14 Texas A&M at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex on Sunday, April. 13, 2025.
Photo by: Sofia Yaker/UGAAA
No. 7-Seed Bulldogs Set To Face No. 10-Seed Sooners in Second Round Of SEC Tournament
April 16, 2025 | Men's Tennis
COLUMBIA, S.C. – The University of Georgia men's tennis team is set to take on Oklahoma, No. 29 nationally and the No. 10-seed in the tournament, on Thursday evening at the Carolina Tennis Center beginning no earlier than 6:00 p.m. E.T. Georgia enters the match 15-10 (8-6 SEC), and the Sooners are now 15-9 (7-7 SEC).
*PDF of Full Match Notes Available Here
Match 26 – No. 10-seed Oklahoma (No. 29 Nationally)
Thursday, Apr. 17, 2025
6:00 p.m. E.T.
Carolina Tennis Center
Live Streaming: https://gado.gs/d1l
Live Stats: https://gado.gs/d1m
Tournament Central Page: https://gado.gs/d1n
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BULLDOG BULLETIN
The First Serve: The University of Georgia men's tennis is set to face the 10th-overall seed and No. 29-nationally ranked Oklahoma in the second round of the 2025 SEC Men's Tennis Tournament on Thursday.
Georgia is 4-3 all-time against the Sooners after falling on the road to Oklahoma earlier this season, 4-2. In the match, the Sooners took the doubles point with wins on courts one and two. Miguel Perez Peña/Gabriele Vulpitta won on court three. In singles action, Oscar Pinto Sansano led off with a win on court four to level the match before Ryan Colby pushed the Bulldogs in front with a win on court two. Oklahoma responded with successive wins on court six, three and one to claim the match.
Oklahoma enters the match after taking down No. 15 seed LSU in the first round, 4-1. On the year, the Sooners are 15-9 and finished conference play with an even 7-7 record. Oklahoma picked up wins during the regular season over Arkansas, Tennessee, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Ole Miss and LSU. They are represented by No. 91 Oscar Lacides and No. 97 Luis Alvarez in the singles rankings, and in the doubles rankings, Lacides/Nhavene check in at No. 10. The Sooners have four freshman (Kimhi, Lacides, Melero and Petr), three sophmores (Harazaki, Montsi and Trondson), two juniors (Alvarez and Nhavene) and one senior (Hasson) on the roster.
Oklahoma holds winning singles records on court two, three, four and five boasting a 17-3 mark on court four, and the Sooners have been widely successful in doubles play this season with a 39-14 collective record this spring.
On the bottom half of the bracket, the winner of Georgia and Oklahoma's match will face No. 2-seed Mississippi State. Earlier this season, the Bulldogs defeated MSU, 4-3, at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex. Freshman Gabriele Vulpitta recorded his third-straight match-clinching victory on court six during the match. Also on the bottom half of the bracket, No. 6-seed Florida will face the winner of No. 14-seed Ole Miss and No. 11-seed Arkansas. The winner of the No. 6 seed vs. No. 14-seed/No. 11-seed will take on No. 3-seed South Carolina in the quarterfinals.
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. Notably, 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 (2-3) 7-6
Ryan Colby: 11-7 (12-6) 23-13
Filipe Costa: 2-5 (3-1) 5-6
Parker Jacques: 5-3 (1-0) 6-3
Cyrus Mahjoob: 6-4 (4-1) 10-5
Parker Mariencheck: 2-5 (1-0) 3-5
Thomas Paulsell: 13-6 (9-7) 22-13
Miguel Perez Peña: 9-6 (12-6) 21-12
Oscar Pinto Sansano: 9-6 (18-5) 27-11
Niels Ratiu: 6-5 (13-7) 19-12
Gabriele Vulpitta: N/A (7-7) 7-7
Doubles (Teams): Overall:
Blaydes/Ratiu: 10-5 (5-4) 15-9
Paulsell/Colby: 7-4 (6-7) 13-11
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 (3-5) 3-5
Perez Pena/Vulpitta: N/A (8-5) 8-5
Colby/Ratiu: N/A (0-2) 0-2
Pinto Sansano/Ratiu: N/A (1-1) 1-1
Doubles (Players): Overall:
Freddy Blaydes: 10-5 (8-5) 18-10
Ryan Colby: 7-4 (6-9) 13-13
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 (9-12) 16-16
Miguel Perez Peña: 5-5 (11-9) 16-14
Oscar Pinto Sansano: 5-5 (7-7) 12-12
Niels Ratiu: 10-5 (10-11) 20-16
Gabriele Vulpitta: N/A (10-5) 10-5
*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.
Last Time Out: Georgia closed out the regular season splitting its final two matches, 1-1, against No. 3 Texas and No. 14 Texas A&M.
In the Bulldogs' Friday match against the Longhorns, Texas took the doubles point with wins on courts two and three. Oscar Pinto Sansano/Niels Ratiu def. Timo Legout/Sebastian Gorzny on court one.
Into singles, Texas jumped out to a 3-0 lead after taking courts one and two. Cyrus Mahjoob, making his second appearnce in conference play this spring on court six, defeated Rahul Sachdev in three sets, 4-6, 6-1, 6-0. Pinto Sansano followed up with a 2-6, 6-2, 6-4 win on court four to put Georgia one win away from tying the match at three-all. Coming down to courts five and three, Niels Ratiu fell in a thirdset tiebreak to Evan Burnett with Thomas Paulsell leading 2-1 in his third set up top.
The Bulldogs kicked off Sunday with Senior Day festivities, recognizing the four seniors - Colby, Paulsell, Perez Peña and Pinto Sansano - while also honoring the two managers, Aidan Coleman and Joshua Siger.
In doubles action, the visiting Aggies took the point with wins on courts one and three while No. 23 Paulsell/Colby took court two. In singles, Georgia took four first sets with Ratiu leading off with a 6-1, 6-1 win on court five. Pinto Sansano responded with a 6-4, 6-1 win on court four before Texas A&M leveled the match against at court six. The Bulldogs reclaimed the lead with a win on court three before the Aggies grabbed court one. Coming down to Perez Peña on court two, the senior dominated his third set and recorded his first match-clinching win of the season, handing Georgia its highest ranked win of the year.
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 now sits at 12-6 this spring.
More, Perez Peña's record this spring includes three ranked wins against No. 115 Ioannis Xilas (Wake Forest), No. 53 Jaden Weekes (Kentucky) and No. 16 Shunsuke Mitsui (Tennessee) - the senior's highest ranked win of his career. The senior clinched Georgia's highest-ranked win of the season after defeating Alan Magadan of No. 14 Texas A&M last Sunday - his first match-clinching win of the season. Further, Perez Peña currently holds a 8-5 record in doubles with Gabriele Vulpitta.
Senior Oscar Pinto Sansano leads the teams in wins with 18 singles wins this spring and is tied for second among all SEC players in singles wins. After moving up from court five to four at the start of conference play, Pinto Sansano has gone 10-3 against SEC opponents. Of Pinto Sansano's 18 wins this spring, all but two have come in straight sets.
Consistent Colby: In his second full season with the Bulldogs, senior Ryan Colby has cemented his spot near the top of the lineup for Georgia.
At this stage of the season, Colby sits at 12-6 in dual singles with six ranked wins - all inside the top 90 in the country. A list of his ranked victories are compiled below:
Feb. 1, 2025: 7-6(4), 5-7, 6-4 vs. No. 7 DK Suresh (Wake Forest)
Feb. 24, 2025: 6-3, 6-3 vs. No. 31 Alex Kotzen (Tennessee)
Feb. 28, 2025: 6-1, 6-0 vs. No. 59 Roan Jones (Alabama)
Mar. 15, 2025: 6-2, 6-4 vs. No. 88 Petar Jovanovic (Mississippi State)
Mar. 23, 2025: 6-1, 6-4 vs. No. 80 Lukas Palovic (Arkansas)
Apr. 3, 2025: 7-5, 6-2 vs. No. 66 Jeremy Jin (Florida)
11 of the senior's 12 wins this spring have come in straight sets. The one three set victory came against his highest ranked opponent in Wake Forest's Suresh. Colby has played on courts one, two and three this spring, holding a 1-2 record on the top court, going 10-2 just below and maintaining a 1-0 mark on the third.
Positive Paulsell: Alongside Perez Peña, Thomas Paulsell is the only four-year senior on Georgia's roster. Each year, Paulsell has seen an uptick in key stats to his name.
Since his freshman year, Paulsell has worked his way up to the top courts for the Bulldogs. More, the senior has earned more ranked wins in each season that he has spent at Georgia beginning with one his freshman year, seven in his junior year and nine already this season. More, Paulsell's seven conference wins in singles this year is a career-high.
Freshman Finding Form: Freshman Gabriele Vulpitta, in his first season with the Bulldogs, has begun to find his form for Georgia.
In SEC play, Vulpitta owns a 4-4 mark in singles, including three match-clinching wins on court six. In total his season, Vulpitta now has five match-clinching wins and three point-clinching wins.
Top 25 Wins: Since 2020, Georgia has amassed 33 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, 4-3 vs. No. 14 Texas A&M
Award-Winning: Senior Thomas Paulsell was named to the 2025 SEC Community Service Team.
Thomas Paulsell, a captain on Georgia's men's tennis team, has been committed to uplifting and enabling the Athens community, as well as the tennis community as a whole. A member of the Georgia Way's Leadership Education and Development Academy, Paulsell is committed to generating leadership development among student athletes and provide opportunities for said athletes to meet and interact with established local, state and national leaders. This year, Paulsell participated in Georgia Reads Day with local elementary school Barrow Elementary, spending time with the students, encouraging reading at a crucial stage in their development and acting as a spotlight for what the next generation can achieve. Oftentimes after matches, Thomas can be found encouraging young fans at matches, even going as far as inviting them down to hit on the courts. More, he has spent time in the past as a tennis instructor.
The week of Mar. 12-18, freshman Gabriele Vulpitta was named the SEC Co-Freshman of the Week for his performance against Mississippi State. Texas freshman Timo Legout was also recognized as Co-Freshman of the Week.
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 spring 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: The Bulldogs sit at No. 34 in the ITA team rankings poll this week, cracking the top-25 for the first time this season.
In singles, Ryan Colby leads off at No. 28 followed by Thomas Paulsell at No. 41.
Miguel Perez Peña rounded out the trio of Dawgs at No. 58. In doubles, Paulsell/Colby are regarded as the No. 25 pairing with Freddy Blaydes/Niels Ratiu at No. 44 and Perez Peña/Oscar Pinto Sansano at No. 76.
Across the SEC: Georgia is one of three schools in the SEC to have at least two players ranked inside the top-50 of the ITA singles rankings. Texas' Timo Legout, Sebastian Gorzny and Pierre-Yves Bailly all feature and Tennessee's Shunsuke Mitsiu and Alex Kotzen featued in the top-50 of the singles rankings alongside Georgia's Ryan Colby and Thomas Paulsell.
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.
*PDF of Full Match Notes Available Here
Match 26 – No. 10-seed Oklahoma (No. 29 Nationally)
Thursday, Apr. 17, 2025
6:00 p.m. E.T.
Carolina Tennis Center
Live Streaming: https://gado.gs/d1l
Live Stats: https://gado.gs/d1m
Tournament Central Page: https://gado.gs/d1n
Instagram: @UGATennis | X: @UGATennis | Facebook: UGAMensTennis
BULLDOG BULLETIN
The First Serve: The University of Georgia men's tennis is set to face the 10th-overall seed and No. 29-nationally ranked Oklahoma in the second round of the 2025 SEC Men's Tennis Tournament on Thursday.
Georgia is 4-3 all-time against the Sooners after falling on the road to Oklahoma earlier this season, 4-2. In the match, the Sooners took the doubles point with wins on courts one and two. Miguel Perez Peña/Gabriele Vulpitta won on court three. In singles action, Oscar Pinto Sansano led off with a win on court four to level the match before Ryan Colby pushed the Bulldogs in front with a win on court two. Oklahoma responded with successive wins on court six, three and one to claim the match.
Oklahoma enters the match after taking down No. 15 seed LSU in the first round, 4-1. On the year, the Sooners are 15-9 and finished conference play with an even 7-7 record. Oklahoma picked up wins during the regular season over Arkansas, Tennessee, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Ole Miss and LSU. They are represented by No. 91 Oscar Lacides and No. 97 Luis Alvarez in the singles rankings, and in the doubles rankings, Lacides/Nhavene check in at No. 10. The Sooners have four freshman (Kimhi, Lacides, Melero and Petr), three sophmores (Harazaki, Montsi and Trondson), two juniors (Alvarez and Nhavene) and one senior (Hasson) on the roster.
Oklahoma holds winning singles records on court two, three, four and five boasting a 17-3 mark on court four, and the Sooners have been widely successful in doubles play this season with a 39-14 collective record this spring.
On the bottom half of the bracket, the winner of Georgia and Oklahoma's match will face No. 2-seed Mississippi State. Earlier this season, the Bulldogs defeated MSU, 4-3, at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex. Freshman Gabriele Vulpitta recorded his third-straight match-clinching victory on court six during the match. Also on the bottom half of the bracket, No. 6-seed Florida will face the winner of No. 14-seed Ole Miss and No. 11-seed Arkansas. The winner of the No. 6 seed vs. No. 14-seed/No. 11-seed will take on No. 3-seed South Carolina in the quarterfinals.
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. Notably, 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 (2-3) 7-6
Ryan Colby: 11-7 (12-6) 23-13
Filipe Costa: 2-5 (3-1) 5-6
Parker Jacques: 5-3 (1-0) 6-3
Cyrus Mahjoob: 6-4 (4-1) 10-5
Parker Mariencheck: 2-5 (1-0) 3-5
Thomas Paulsell: 13-6 (9-7) 22-13
Miguel Perez Peña: 9-6 (12-6) 21-12
Oscar Pinto Sansano: 9-6 (18-5) 27-11
Niels Ratiu: 6-5 (13-7) 19-12
Gabriele Vulpitta: N/A (7-7) 7-7
Doubles (Teams): Overall:
Blaydes/Ratiu: 10-5 (5-4) 15-9
Paulsell/Colby: 7-4 (6-7) 13-11
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 (3-5) 3-5
Perez Pena/Vulpitta: N/A (8-5) 8-5
Colby/Ratiu: N/A (0-2) 0-2
Pinto Sansano/Ratiu: N/A (1-1) 1-1
Doubles (Players): Overall:
Freddy Blaydes: 10-5 (8-5) 18-10
Ryan Colby: 7-4 (6-9) 13-13
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 (9-12) 16-16
Miguel Perez Peña: 5-5 (11-9) 16-14
Oscar Pinto Sansano: 5-5 (7-7) 12-12
Niels Ratiu: 10-5 (10-11) 20-16
Gabriele Vulpitta: N/A (10-5) 10-5
*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.
Last Time Out: Georgia closed out the regular season splitting its final two matches, 1-1, against No. 3 Texas and No. 14 Texas A&M.
In the Bulldogs' Friday match against the Longhorns, Texas took the doubles point with wins on courts two and three. Oscar Pinto Sansano/Niels Ratiu def. Timo Legout/Sebastian Gorzny on court one.
Into singles, Texas jumped out to a 3-0 lead after taking courts one and two. Cyrus Mahjoob, making his second appearnce in conference play this spring on court six, defeated Rahul Sachdev in three sets, 4-6, 6-1, 6-0. Pinto Sansano followed up with a 2-6, 6-2, 6-4 win on court four to put Georgia one win away from tying the match at three-all. Coming down to courts five and three, Niels Ratiu fell in a thirdset tiebreak to Evan Burnett with Thomas Paulsell leading 2-1 in his third set up top.
The Bulldogs kicked off Sunday with Senior Day festivities, recognizing the four seniors - Colby, Paulsell, Perez Peña and Pinto Sansano - while also honoring the two managers, Aidan Coleman and Joshua Siger.
In doubles action, the visiting Aggies took the point with wins on courts one and three while No. 23 Paulsell/Colby took court two. In singles, Georgia took four first sets with Ratiu leading off with a 6-1, 6-1 win on court five. Pinto Sansano responded with a 6-4, 6-1 win on court four before Texas A&M leveled the match against at court six. The Bulldogs reclaimed the lead with a win on court three before the Aggies grabbed court one. Coming down to Perez Peña on court two, the senior dominated his third set and recorded his first match-clinching win of the season, handing Georgia its highest ranked win of the year.
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 now sits at 12-6 this spring.
More, Perez Peña's record this spring includes three ranked wins against No. 115 Ioannis Xilas (Wake Forest), No. 53 Jaden Weekes (Kentucky) and No. 16 Shunsuke Mitsui (Tennessee) - the senior's highest ranked win of his career. The senior clinched Georgia's highest-ranked win of the season after defeating Alan Magadan of No. 14 Texas A&M last Sunday - his first match-clinching win of the season. Further, Perez Peña currently holds a 8-5 record in doubles with Gabriele Vulpitta.
Senior Oscar Pinto Sansano leads the teams in wins with 18 singles wins this spring and is tied for second among all SEC players in singles wins. After moving up from court five to four at the start of conference play, Pinto Sansano has gone 10-3 against SEC opponents. Of Pinto Sansano's 18 wins this spring, all but two have come in straight sets.
Consistent Colby: In his second full season with the Bulldogs, senior Ryan Colby has cemented his spot near the top of the lineup for Georgia.
At this stage of the season, Colby sits at 12-6 in dual singles with six ranked wins - all inside the top 90 in the country. A list of his ranked victories are compiled below:
Feb. 1, 2025: 7-6(4), 5-7, 6-4 vs. No. 7 DK Suresh (Wake Forest)
Feb. 24, 2025: 6-3, 6-3 vs. No. 31 Alex Kotzen (Tennessee)
Feb. 28, 2025: 6-1, 6-0 vs. No. 59 Roan Jones (Alabama)
Mar. 15, 2025: 6-2, 6-4 vs. No. 88 Petar Jovanovic (Mississippi State)
Mar. 23, 2025: 6-1, 6-4 vs. No. 80 Lukas Palovic (Arkansas)
Apr. 3, 2025: 7-5, 6-2 vs. No. 66 Jeremy Jin (Florida)
11 of the senior's 12 wins this spring have come in straight sets. The one three set victory came against his highest ranked opponent in Wake Forest's Suresh. Colby has played on courts one, two and three this spring, holding a 1-2 record on the top court, going 10-2 just below and maintaining a 1-0 mark on the third.
Positive Paulsell: Alongside Perez Peña, Thomas Paulsell is the only four-year senior on Georgia's roster. Each year, Paulsell has seen an uptick in key stats to his name.
Since his freshman year, Paulsell has worked his way up to the top courts for the Bulldogs. More, the senior has earned more ranked wins in each season that he has spent at Georgia beginning with one his freshman year, seven in his junior year and nine already this season. More, Paulsell's seven conference wins in singles this year is a career-high.
Freshman Finding Form: Freshman Gabriele Vulpitta, in his first season with the Bulldogs, has begun to find his form for Georgia.
In SEC play, Vulpitta owns a 4-4 mark in singles, including three match-clinching wins on court six. In total his season, Vulpitta now has five match-clinching wins and three point-clinching wins.
Top 25 Wins: Since 2020, Georgia has amassed 33 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, 4-3 vs. No. 14 Texas A&M
Award-Winning: Senior Thomas Paulsell was named to the 2025 SEC Community Service Team.
Thomas Paulsell, a captain on Georgia's men's tennis team, has been committed to uplifting and enabling the Athens community, as well as the tennis community as a whole. A member of the Georgia Way's Leadership Education and Development Academy, Paulsell is committed to generating leadership development among student athletes and provide opportunities for said athletes to meet and interact with established local, state and national leaders. This year, Paulsell participated in Georgia Reads Day with local elementary school Barrow Elementary, spending time with the students, encouraging reading at a crucial stage in their development and acting as a spotlight for what the next generation can achieve. Oftentimes after matches, Thomas can be found encouraging young fans at matches, even going as far as inviting them down to hit on the courts. More, he has spent time in the past as a tennis instructor.
The week of Mar. 12-18, freshman Gabriele Vulpitta was named the SEC Co-Freshman of the Week for his performance against Mississippi State. Texas freshman Timo Legout was also recognized as Co-Freshman of the Week.
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 spring 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: The Bulldogs sit at No. 34 in the ITA team rankings poll this week, cracking the top-25 for the first time this season.
In singles, Ryan Colby leads off at No. 28 followed by Thomas Paulsell at No. 41.
Miguel Perez Peña rounded out the trio of Dawgs at No. 58. In doubles, Paulsell/Colby are regarded as the No. 25 pairing with Freddy Blaydes/Niels Ratiu at No. 44 and Perez Peña/Oscar Pinto Sansano at No. 76.
Across the SEC: Georgia is one of three schools in the SEC to have at least two players ranked inside the top-50 of the ITA singles rankings. Texas' Timo Legout, Sebastian Gorzny and Pierre-Yves Bailly all feature and Tennessee's Shunsuke Mitsiu and Alex Kotzen featued in the top-50 of the singles rankings alongside Georgia's Ryan Colby and Thomas Paulsell.
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
