Friends,

 

Well, our indoor season came and went and we are just one day away from heading outdoors to host Furman and ETSU in a pair of matches this Sunday and Monday. We had some great results indoors, but we are ready to get outside and work toward our postseason goals! Besides, there's nothing like playing at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex on a beautiful spring day in the Classic City!

 

Our indoor season gave us a very good indication of what we can expect from this extremely young but talented group of players. We saw a lot of encouraging things from our four freshmen, and the rookies were fortunate to get some big matches under their belts this early in the year - specifically at National Indoors, where we got a big 4-0 win over Ole Miss with the clinch from Nick Wood.

 

Something else that was very encouraging at Indoors was the play of our doubles. We won the point all three matches in Seattle, while our teams went a combined 6-1 not including some leads on courts that didn't get to finish. That was a very encouraging sign, as we know how important getting that early 1-0 lead can be, especially in the SEC! Our No. 2 doubles team of Nathan Pasha and Garrett Brasseaux went 3-0 in their matches and were named to the ITA's All-Tournament Team!

 

Heading outdoors, two of our freshmen, Ben Wagland (12-5) and Austin Smith (11-5) have already notched double-digit wins and Wood is out to a 4-1 start in singles after joining the team in January. We're excited to see what others can do, and we're getting the consistent play and veteran leadership we expected from our older players. Nathan Pasha has had to play No. 1 for us most of the indoor season after he played primarily 5 or 6 last year, and has risen to the challenge. Hernus Pieters competes like a champion every match and has gotten us some big wins. Right now he has 80 victories for his career and we're excited to watch him march on toward 100!

 

We hope you'll come out and support us as we welcome Furman to Athens tomorrow, Feb. 24, at 1 p.m. The forecast is sunny and 67 degrees so there's no excuse not to come out and enjoy the day and our first outdoor match of 2013! And come again on Monday - great excuse to leave the office!

 

As always, GO DAWGS!

 

Regards,

Manny