The Georgia men’s tennis team hosted the ITA kickoff event Sunday, which pits four teams together for the opportunity to play in the ITA National Team Indoor Championships Feb. 17-20 in Charlottesville, Va.

The No. 4 Bulldogs (2-0) began the tournament with a victory over their first opponent of the two-day homestead, a 7-0 defeat of the No. 51 TCU Horned Frogs (1-1).

“I think we played well at every spot. I think here and there we could have done things better, but that’s a part of every competitive match,” Georgia head coach Manuel Diaz said.

KU Singh kicked off the Bulldog's shutout of TCU with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Daniel Sanchez. EVAN STICHLER/Staff

Junior KU Singh was the first to finish on the day, defeating TCU’s Daniel Sanchez 6-2, 6-3.

Moments later, Georgia’s No. 10 Sadio Doumbia and No. 26 Ignacio Taboada finished their matches to officially tie the ribbon on another Bulldog victory.

Taboada fought his way through an emotional second set to beat TCU’s Max Stevens 7-5, 6-3.

Meanwhile, Doumbia continued his impressive play at court two with an efficient 6-0, 6-3 run through JT Sundling to clinch the match.

However, the drama of the day once again came at court one, where No. 3 Wil Spencer was challenged by pesky TCU freshman Nick Chappell.

“I didn’t really know [what to expect] — I had never seen [Chappell] play before,” Spencer said. “I heard he gets a lot of battles and he got a lot of balls back and did a good job of making me hit one more, one more, one more.”

Chappell put Spencer in an early 2-0 hole in the first set, matching volley with volley against the highly-regarded Georgia senior.

Spencer responded by breaking the freshman’s serve on three separate occasions in the set, the final break coming when Chappell was serving to win the set, up 5-4.

With clutch play to end the set, Spencer regained the lead and would finish the set 7-5.

But Chappell answered with his own stellar play in the second set, winning 6-3 after Spencer struggled to maintain any consistency with his shot.

“In the second set I lost a little focus,” Spencer said. “When you clinch [the match], sometimes it’s over, so I thought it was going to be over and I found out we were going to finish it and I lost focus, but he took advantage of it.”

The tight match would come down to a pro set, a tiebreaker in which players alternate service, with the first player to score ten points winning the match.

Spencer allowed two early points, battled for one, then gave up another to put himself in an early 3-1 hole.

However, two quick points brought Spencer back to a draw, where the duo would dual to an 8-8 tie.

Spencer went ahead after forcing Chappell into a backhand-error, then lofted a high ball over the freshman’s head for the game winner in what turned out to be the closest match of the day, 7-5, 3-6, 1-0 (10-8).

“It was ugly — winning ugly — and I didn’t play my best, but it’s good when you can win when you’re playing badly,” Spencer said. “I’ve been in pressure situations before, but every time it builds and gives you confidence. When you can get through these situations when you’re not playing you’re best, that’s huge.”

At courts five and six respectively, Georgia’s No. 64 Hernus Pieters defeated Paul Chappell 6-1, 6-3 and freshman Nathan Pasha went to 2-0 on the season with a victory over Facundo Lugones 6-2, 6-1.

Pieters said he was focused on winning his match even though the team victory had already been decided by the time he stepped on the court.

“I play for my record — every match that I win counts and I’m getting closer to where I’m hoping to be,” Pieters said. “It doesn’t matter if it matters in terms of team score anymore. Every win is a good win.”

Two doubles victories paced the Bulldogs on their way to the 7-0 sweep of the Horned Frogs.

The Bulldogs finished first at court number one, gaining the early lead after the No. 8 combination of Wil Spencer and Garrett Brasseaux edged their opponents 8-6.

Meanwhile, No. 9 Ignacio Taboada and Sadio Doumbia tied up an 8-4 defeat of Paul Chappell and Will Stein to award Georgia the doubles point.

“I’m really pleased with our number one doubles team, who won a very good win there,” Diaz said, “and our number two doubles team who got to a really strong start to get us some momentum.”

Georgia’s Hernus Pieters and KU Singh would have their doubles match retired early, finishing with a 7-7 draw against TCU’s Daniel Sanchez and Blake Wiggins.

Diaz said he was looking forward to his team’s match against Virginia Tech (1-0) Monday, for an opportunity to clinch a berth in the ITA National Team Indoor Championships.

“At some point, things can’t keep falling our way but as long as we’re playing hard I think we have a great shot at continuing to succeed, and we’ll see what happens,” Diaz said. “I know Virginia Tech will be a great challenge and that they will be ready for us, and we will be ready for them.”