Splitting up a winning team gave Manuel Diaz somewhat of a splitting headache.

The head coach of the Georgia men’s tennis team traveled with one third of his squad to Tulsa, Okla., to watch seniors Nate Schnugg and Jamie Hunt along with junior Javier Garrapiz compete in the ITA All-America Championships.

Though facing some of the top competition in the nation, the upperclassmen’s play did not yield the expected results.

“I think we all would agree that we did not get the results we were expecting or looking for,” Diaz said. “Having said that, I think we were very motivated and encouraged about things we can do here in the next couple of weeks to get us just a step closer to where we need to be.”

Schnugg and Hunt entered tournament play as the No 1. seeded doubles team, but were knocked out in the quarterfinals by Oklahoma State’s Aleksey Bessonov and Oleksandr Nedovyesov in a close 8-6 match.

Hunt was the only Bulldog of the three that traveled to Tulsa who advanced to the Round of 32, but Oklahoma’s Andrei Daescu defeated the Texas native in three sets 7-6(4), 3-6, 6-3. Schnugg and Garrapiz were both eliminated from singles play in two sets by North Carolina’s Brennan Boyjian, 7-6(3), 7-6(5) and Stanford’s No. 7 seed Alex Clayton, 7-5, 6-2, respectively.

“I just think there are no short cuts,” Diaz said. “I just think we need a little bit more time, and I think we need a few more matches to get these guys to the level that they’re capable of playing.”

While Schnugg, Hunt and Garrapiz were competing in Tulsa, the rest of the Bulldog squad remained in Athens to play in the Bulldog Scramble.

With ups and downs plaguing the Bulldogs’ play not only in Tulsa, but also at home inside the Dan Magill Tennis Complex, junior Drake Bernstein echoed Diaz’s sentiments and realizes that match kinks will work themselves out for the entirety of the Georgia team.

“I think that it is just something that happens a lot of times. Even the best players in the world always throw in some bad matches all the time, so it’s not something that’s too crazy to happen,” Bernstein said.

“Of course, you’d like to try to kind of minimize how often they happen, but I think it was just one of those days. Just bad luck I think. It happens I guess.”