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Olivia Sayer
Georgia Sophmore Miguel Perez Pena prepares to hit a volley on April 13, 2023. The University of Georgia men’s tennis team defeats Mississippi State 6-1 at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex in Athens, Georgia. (Photo:Laney Martin; @laneymartinphotography)
The sixth-seeded Georgia men’s tennis team outlasted eleventh-seeded Harvard 4-2 in the NCAA Super Regionals on Saturday, May 13.
Georgia, who has now been to the NCAA Tournament Quarterfinals in 27 of the 35 years head coach Manny Diaz has led the program, will have a chance to continue its postseason dreams.
“Pretty happy with all of the team’s effort,” sophomore Miguel Perez Peña said. “It was a tough match. Harvard’s a really good team. They’ve been in the top 10 for a long part of the season. They played really good doubles, made it really tough and some of our guys didn’t have a good day. So happy for the team, we were really good.”
Doubles did not start out well for the Bulldogs, with Harvard dominating court three. Georgia’s senior duo of Blake Croyder and Britton Johnston were defeated by Harvard’s Henry von der Schulenberg and Alan Yim 6-1. The Bulldogs drew even when seniors Teodor Giusca and Philip Henning bested Ronan Jachuck and Steven Sun 6-3, giving the deciding point to court one.
Georgia’s sixth-ranked duo of senior Trent Bryde and freshman Ethan Quinn fell behind early to the No. 62 ranked Daniel Milavsky and Harris Walker, but fought back to force a tiebreaker. The two duos battled back-and-forth until an epic volley by Bryde stunned the Crimson and gave the Bulldogs the match point. The crowd erupted, and the Bulldogs led the match 1-0.
Earning the doubles match point was vital for the Bulldogs because it meant they would only have to win three of the six singles matches to advance to the quarterfinals.
Singles followed doubles, and similarly to doubles, Harvard took the first three sets and evened the score at 1-1 when No. 35 Henry von der Schulenburg defeated Georgia’s No. 19 Henning 6-2, 6-1. The loss was only Henning’s sixth of the season. Giusca dominated on court six, earning a 6-4, 6-0 victory over Valdemar Pape.
Despite the Bulldogs leading the match 2-1, the Crimson battled back as Daniel Milavsky defeated No. 113 Bryde 6-2, 6-4 on court three. The match was tied, while Quinn fought a battle of his own on court one. The No. 2 seed was facing Harvard’s No. 37 Walker in a tiebreaker. Quinn won the tiebreaker and left no doubt in the second set, beating the Crimson’s number one, 7-6 (7-5), 6-1.
“When we got into singles, I started off strong – got a little complacent at 3-0, but was able to get back on my horse and finish out that first set strong,” Quinn said. “In the second set, [Walker] looked a little bit fatigued—it was hot out here today. Once I saw that fatigue reinforced, it kind of helped me to keep pushing because I knew that I was a little quicker than he was and I could hit the ball bigger at that time.”
With Georgia only needing one more singles win to secure its spot in the NCAA quarterfinals, all eyes turned to courts four and five.
Both Croyder and Perez Peña were in control of their matches, but it wasPerez Peña who earned the match-clinching point, as he defeated Harvard’s Steven Sun 7-6 (8-6), 6-4 on court five.
“It was 3-3 and I went down 4-3, and I was like, ‘OK, this match is over. Someone else is going to clinch it,’” Perez Peña said. “Then, it was 4-4 and Blake couldn’t close it out – I was like, ‘Actually, I have a chance here.’ I broke, and then on the last game, I was trying to race Blake. At the end of the day, I closed the match, but I would have been as happy if Blake had closed it out. Just happy for the team. It was fun to run to him at the end of the match as well.”
The Bulldogs faced No. 3 Ohio State on Thursday, May 18 at the United States Tennis Association National Complex in Lake Nona, Florida.