Manuel Diaz Match Quotations

A match like this is the reason people come to play at Georgia. It was a beautiful day with a huge crowd and a lot of pressure. I could probably give a thousand reasons why we should have lost this match, but we found a way to squeak through and get the job done. That's the true mark of a championship team, to win when you are not playing well - and today we did not play very well.

This match is traditionally a very tough one. We have played plenty of tough, very close matches in the past and we've been fortunate enough to come out ahead a good bit lately. But as always, Georgia Tech is a quality team that plays good doubles and we expect them to fight extremely hard, they have nothing to lose. Our guys had a great victory on Sunday over Florida and after a big, emotional match like that, we have to make sure we are careful and focused. We certainly want to avoid a letdown.

Our guys are playing well right now. Having said that, I think we are coming up on the toughest part of our schedule. We have three matches in a row on the road and we need to be playing our best tennis of the year. It's going to be a major challenge, but I think we have a good deal of momentum and confidence going into it. Hopefully we can come out and play to the best of our abilities.

Having an undefeated regular season has got to be in the back of the players' minds somewhere. But it is not something we are focusing on. One of the great things we have done all year is stay focused on one match at a time. Our guys have shown a lot of maturity and composure to not get too high or too low. That consistency has been a big part of our results this year.

I'm very proud of our guys. The conditions were not ideal today, it was very windy. Some of our guys were able to take care of business and some struggled. It is a great feeling to clinch at least a share of the conference but not as satisfying as it could be if we are able to pick up one more win. We have a tough match on Sunday though, I'm sure Ole Miss will have a good crowd and their players will be fired up. I really want to see our guys come out and be aggressive. If we can compete well, then we have a chance to make ourselves very proud.

We're not treating this match any differently than any other match we've played this year. We just need to keep playing the way we have been up to this point. I want our players to be concerned with doing what we do well, and not anything else. I just want them to come out and get after it.

We beat a very good Ole Miss team today. They came out and took it to us in doubles. Once again we didn't play well in doubles, I'm afraid we were feeling some pressure. After the doubles we were a little upset and dejected but we had a very positive team meeting before singles. I challenged the guys to show us what they were made of. You can't win every match 7-0 or 6-1, you have to win the close ones too. We knew it wasn't going to be easy but its worth going after. I am so proud of the way they competed. These are the moments that matter and you remember forever.